A Gap and a Fox
by Megaolix
Summary: A gap meeting a fox. Such a strange meeting, yet one that can bring so much. What could change from such a meeting? What would they gain from each other? Naruto x Touhou crossover. DISCONTINUED, see message inside for rest of story summary.
1. Prologue

Disclaimer : I don't own Naruto or Touhou.

* * *

Prologue

He felt something odd.

That's the only way Naruto Uzumaki, young blond boy who started his last year at the Academy since a few days ago, could describe what he was feeling while eating his lunch. He also knew it wasn't the first time it happened, but he never found out who watched him.

Since morning, Naruto threw a glance behind every ten minutes until Iruka caught him and told him to concentrate on the lesson. That still didn't stop the uneasy feeling. He also decided it might be the reason he hadn't tried any pranks that day. After all, it wouldn't be good if someone warned the others of a prank he made.

"What the heck is wrong with you?"

Naruto turned to see who had spoken. Kiba was looking at him, with Akamaru perched at the top of his head.

"Don't you feel like someone is watching us somewhere?" Naruto asked. Since he couldn't pinpoint where that person was, he decided to swallow his pride and ask someone else to help. No sense in staying uneasy for the rest the day.

"What are you talking about? Akamaru, do you smell anything?"

The dog lifted his head and sniffed the air twice. He knew his master wasn't speaking about that white-eyed girl hidden behind a tree at the moment since he said to find something unusual. After searching for a few more seconds, he barked his answer back.

"He doesn't smell anything. Are you sure you didn't hit your head or something or are you finally going to admit you're crazy?"

"Shut up, dog-boy."

"Oh yeah? Well, I'm not the one having a paranoia attack right now. If there was someone nearby doing something suspicious, Akamaru would have smelt him."

"Say the one who walked around with a sign on his back for 4 hours."

Kiba was going to say something, but held back his words, remembering the humiliation from last year. He still hadn't figured out how and when Naruto managed to put "I love wearing skirts" on his back that day. Nobody had said a word and it wasn't until he was a home that he finally knew something was wrong when he saw his sister on the verge of laughing openly at him. To make matters worse, the lesson that day was about being aware of changes in your surroundings. So he wasn't surprised the next morning when Iruka told him as soon as he entered the class to pay attention to the lesson instead of goofing off.

It took around two weeks to salvage his pride from that prank.

* * *

It wasn't the first time she observed him.

She found him by chance, when she travelled to see if anything was worthy of her attention. She wondered for a moment why a young boy was being so cheerful one moment, when he was with someone else just to start being depressed as soon as they left, when no one else but him and her, hidden, was there.

She left then since nothing else was going to happen. Then she came back the next day, wondering how he was. She found him running from another man, a ninja she learned, that looked like a bucket of paint fell on him. Then she saw him deciding it he enough of running and transforming into a very… well-endowed girl which sent the ninja unconscious from a nosebleed.

She actually let out a chuckle at that. She wondered if that would work where she came from.

Since then, she came back once in a while to watch him. She, of course, saw how well he was treated by the others and she herself could sense something unusual about the boy. She gathered information about him and found out he was quite more interesting than what she first thought. She never thought before an human could be this interesting.

_"__After all, not everyone is the jailor of a demonic Nine-tailed fox."_

As soon as she learned that particular information, some things made sense to her while others didn't. She knew humans could be silly in the way they glared at someone who was totally innocent about what happened when the demon attacked them. Not only the real target of the glare couldn't see them, but she was sure it wouldn't even be bothered by it. But she wondered why no one bothered to train the boy. With that much power inside him, the boy could be a living juggernaut.

But no one bothered to research the seal to strengthen it, to make sure the demon would never get out or avoid side-effects from using it or help the boy get past the trouble he had from his special condition. She knew humans wouldn't dare mess with the work of a being higher than them, but the lack of attention was simply infuriating.

That problem was also something that was on her mind. The boy grew up alone, lived alone and, unless she missed some since she wasn't watching him all the time, she could count on her hands the few persons who would actually care much if the boy went missing.

She knew of no human who could live like this, alone and being glared as if his existence was a sin, and not go insane. She knew that even she would be at the very least irritated if almost all the people she knew avoided or ignored her for as long as this boy had suffered.

So she decided, that day, to act that night. She was sure the boy would be a very interesting addition to her family. She also knew some people who could help with his foxy problem. She wanted to see how strong he could become if someone intelligent, like she, took care of him.

And she doubted he would refuse. He wanted attention. He wanted to escape the almost permanent solitude he was living in. He wanted someone who would help him become stronger.

She was already grinning in anticipation of the meeting.

* * *

The rest of the day ended quietly for Naruto. The weird feeling he had went away during the afternoon and he decided it was too late to plan a prank. After classes, he simply went home quickly after spending some time at Ichiraku eating ramen.

He was about to take a shower then go to bed when suddenly, the air in front of him opened. When he recovered from the shock, he stared at a weird purple hole with eyes inside that was hanging in the air. The gap itself expanded and he saw a woman come out of it. She was a strange pink and purple dress and also had a weird white poofy hat with a ribbon on it. Her hair, which he thought must be long, was coiled up into the hat. She also held a pink parasol, but he had no idea why she had it since it was already night.

In his opinion, she was one heck of a weird lady. Then he remembered she came out of that strange gap but when he looked again, it was already gone.

He had no idea who she was, how did she do that and what did she want. So he asked the first thing that passed his mind.

"Who are you?"

The lady made some steps and took a chair that was next to her. She sat on it and looked at him. Then she answered.

"My name is Yukari Yakumo, Naruto Uzumaki."

* * *

Naruto knew that things could be strange sometimes. He wondered why people glared at him for no reasons. He wondered why they said bad things about him. He also wondered why his chakra control was so bad. It wasn't like he wasn't trying. But seeing a lady pop out of nowhere and knowing who he was now the strangest thing he ever saw.

"How do you know me? Did we meet before?"

Yukari smiled a little before answering.

"No, we didn't. I've simply been observing you for a while."

Naruto, who could be downright dense sometimes but also clever once in a while, finally understood who watched him.

"You're the one who watched me? How did you do that? Are you a ninja?"

"No, I'm not. And this is not a bloodline either, before you ask." Yukari answered, enjoying keeping Naruto in the dark for now.

"Huh? But I don't know anyone who can't do that…"

Naruto was utterly confused. Who the heck was she?

"Maybe that's because I'm not human."

-That- got Naruto full attention.

"Huh? What are you if you're not human? And what do you want with me anyway?" Naruto didn't think she was here simply to talk. Except for old man Hokage and Ichiraku and his daughter, nobody would come to talk to him.

Yukari closed her eyes a second, before reopening then and talking.

"First, I am a youkai. I observed you for a while. I heard what they say when they whisper. I know that you're lonely. I know you hate being alone. I know you want to be stronger. And I know you want to be acknowledged."

Naruto wondered first if she just wanted to lure him to use him for something nefarious… like eating him. He shuddered, but then he thought that if she wanted to do something like that, she wouldn't even have bothered to talk to him.

She rose from her seat before disappearing for a second as a gap opened under her. Naruto wondered where she was, when her head appeared next to him through another strange gap in the air. She leaned her elbows on the border of the gap and rested her chin on the back of her hands.

"I want to offer you an invitation to a special place called Gensokyo. I know people who can help you. I know people who won't mind spending time with you. I know people who can train you. I also know people who would love to help you with your pranks." She didn't bother to say that she was amongst those who loved good pranks.

When she said nothing else, Naruto decided to speak.

"Gensokyo… What's that? And why would I want to go to a place I don't know?" Naruto said. But he was tempted. She looked nice. But then again, he knew looks weren't everything. She already admitted she wasn't human, after all.

"It's simply a legendary land with humans and youkais living in it. Of course, I know it sound strange to you. How about coming for a week then, to learn and decide after if you want to stay? I promise I'll bring you back safely after if that is what you want."

Naruto decided then. He knew she wouldn't have promised if she was just lying. And it wasn't like he would mind that much missing a week at the Academy. It also sounded interesting. Maybe he could learn a jutsu there that would finally prove that he was way better than Sasuke-teme! Then Sakura-chan would see how cool he was and finally go out with him!

"Alright then! When do we leave?"

"Right now."

"Huh…? But shouldn't I warn old man Hokage or something before? And I should also ask old man Teuchi to water my plants… And also…"

Yukari laughed a little before answering.

"Don't worry. I'll grab your plants right after so you can continue to take care of them. I'll also leave a note here about you."

She held out her hand before continuing.

"Now hold my hand and don't let it go. It will only take a few seconds."

Naruto did so and a gap opened beneath them. The last thing that was heard in the apartment was Naruto saying how cool the weird space he was in was before the gap closed.

* * *

A few hours later, a few ANBU ninjas were in the Hokage's office, waiting with dread the reaction he would have from the report.

"So let me get this straight." He started, turning to look at them. "Naruto disappeared, with no traces of a break-in on the door or the window and no chakra sensed. Nobody at the gates saw them and you haven't seen or sensed anyone strange in the village in your night patrol. Yet not only Naruto disappeared, but the kidnapper also took his plants, kami-sama know why, along with him and nobody saw anything or anyone strange at all?"

The leader of the night patrol was afraid, for a very good reason.

The Hokage was grinning. Not a happy grin, of course, but more like a grin a deranged or a very pissed off person would have. He already knew which one it was. The again, he wondered if it could be both.

"And not only that, but they left a note along with it."

Sarutobi took the note, reading it out loud for those present who hadn't heard of it.

_To the "Hokage"_

_I took Naruto to make him visit a special __place__. He will be back in a week__ if he __wants__ to."_

_Yukari Yakumo_

The ANBU gulped. It was clear the Hokage was very pissed off by the events. Naruto disappeared to an unknown place and nobody had heard of this "Yukari". He knew how much his leader liked the boy.

But it wasn't like they knew what happened either! They did their patrol as usual and truly didn't saw or sensed anything out of the ordinary. And it wasn't like any ANBU was stupid enough to just conveniently forget to check on him. They lost many ANBUs when the demon attacked and all those who survived remembered what it could do. They weren't foolish enough to believe something stupid like he was the demon or something like that.

"So what explanation do you have then?" The Hokage said, bringing the ANBU away from his thoughts. Said ANBU could only gulp, since he had nothing to say and was as confused as Sarutobi about how Naruto disappeared.

They said that after the meeting, which ended with a rarely seen angry Third Hokage, one ANBU fainted and two couldn't sleep for the night, still scared from the meeting. But no matter how much time they spent in his office, no answer could be found from Naruto's disappearance.

* * *

Author's notes : Here's my first try at a crossover fic, which I admit is a rather big project for me.

If you see any mistakes, just say it and I'll be happy to correct them next update. I'm not a native English speaker and I understand that I can make more mistakes than I would want.

Don't forget to read and review. Flames will be ignored.


	2. The First Day

AN : Here's the next chapter. Thanks to everyone who reviewed.

Disclaimer : I do not own Naruto and Touhou.

* * *

Chapter 1 : The First Day

When Yukari pulled Naruto out of the gap she made, Naruto looked around him. He noticed he was in a hallway. For him, the hallway looked like the hallways of the Hyuuga household he visited once.

"_The rest of the house must be same_" he thought.

Naruto visited the Hyuuga household during his first and last attempt at a prank inside in the clan house. Naruto was spotted as soon as he arrived and was on the run since then. No matter where he tried to hide, they always knew where to find him. Desperate, he tried his Sexy no Jutsu. To his surprise, he found out it was actually more effective than usual. Not about to question his good fortune, he managed to escape and never tried to do a prank in that house again.

What Naruto didn't know back was the clan's bloodline, the Byakugan. He didn't know their eyes could see through walls and made all his hiding attempts useless. However, that advantage proved itself fatal when Naruto transformed. Even those who weren't directly looking at him got a full view of a… very healthy girl. Now, add the fact that they can see through smoke too…

"Welcome to the Yakumo's house." Yukari said, cutting Naruto from his thoughts. "Since it is already late, just go take a bath and go to sleep. We can talk more tomorrow."

After giving him the directions to the bath and the room she prepared for him, she let him go. She then opened a gap that went to another room of the house, which already had an occupant in it.

The occupant was sitting, as if waiting for someone. Her hair was golden brown and she was wearing a pink two-tailed hat with many amulets on it. Her outfit, blue and white, had the same design as Yukari's own clothes. However, the most obvious fact about her was her nine fox tails.

"Did you do everything, Ran?" She asked.

"Yes, Yukari-sama." Said Ran, turning towards Yukari. "I got spare clothes for him at Rinnosuke's shop. I also prepared the room for him as you asked. The clothes are in the closet of his room."

"What about the main problem?"

"She said she needed to gather information about it first. She also said that the compensation she would get had better be good."

"Excellent. I'll go to sleep then. Be sure to take care of him next morning." She then opened another gap to return to her room.

Ran also returned to her room to sleep.

* * *

Naruto woke up early in the morning, as the sun's rays hit his face. After looking around in confusion as he didn't recognize his room, he remembered what happened last night.

"_I can't believe I'm really in another world…_"

Deciding to get dressed first, he went for the closet, where he put his orange jumpsuit last night. Opening it, he jumped back in surprise at what he saw.

"Whoa… I didn't think she would go that far for me…"

Last night, when he threw his jumpsuit into the closet, the darkness and his fatigue made him miss the fact, but now he could see it already held other clothes ready to wear. He decided to use them and choose a plain grey shirt with dark green shorts. After putting on his goggles and then got out of the room. Not knowing where to go, he wandered in the hallways trying to find Yukari.

In his search, he stumbled upon a room with what looked like a dining table. Sitting here and waiting was a girl with dark orange eyes and brown hair. She was wearing a poofy green hat red and a light pink outfit with gold trimming. She also had cat ears, with a gold earring in the left one, and two tails. Naruto wondered who she was, until he remembered something Yukari told him.

"_Oh yeah, she said this world had both youkais and humans… Then she must be a youkai._"

The nekomata, noticing him, turned to face him and smiled to greet him.

"Hi! I'm Chen! Nice to meet you." She said in a cheerful voice.

"Naruto Uzumaki. Errr… Do you know where Yukari is?" Naruto asked. She did tell him they would talk more in the morning.

"Yukari-sama is still sleeping. She almost never wakes up early." Chen said.

"Oh… I guess she'll talk to me later." Naruto said. He sat at the table, wondering what to do next when he noticed Chen was still looking at him, as if examining him. When she saw that he caught her staring, she started to talk again.

"Well, when Yukari-sama said she was bringing a human here, both I and Ran-sama were surprised. It is usually very rare for humans to interest her this much."

"Oh? Wait… Ran-sama? How many persons are living here?"

"Ran-sama is my master and Yukari-sama is Ran-sama's master. There isn't anyone else here."

Naruto was about to say something when he saw someone entering the room, probably this "Ran-sama" person. He was about to greet her when he caught sight of the fox tails behind her. While Naruto certainly wasn't the most knowledgeable student in Konoha, even he knew about the Kyuubi attack on the village. He didn't even need to count the tails to know there were nine of them.

While Naruto tensed and waited for anything that could happen, Ran simply walked into the room carrying plates of food.

"Breakfast is ready."

Naruto resisted the urge to face-vault while Ran settled the food on the table and Chen looked eager to start eating and was actually moving her hand foward, but a sharp glance for Ran stopped her. Chen tried to put on a cute face, but Ran still didn't give in. After she was done settling the food, Chen started eating and Ran sat at the table. Noticing Naruto was still shifting nervously in his seat, Ran tried to think of a reason to explain Naruto's state. Then she remembered that Yukari-sama had told her some time ago about the attack on his village.

"You have no need to be nervous, Naruto. Remember that the one you are thinking about was defeated. So I cannot be him." She said, as if she was giving a simple fact of life. Chen paused, a little curious about what her master just said, but continued eating right after. Ran also started eating after this.

Naruto jumped a little when he heard her speak, but listened nonetheless. After, he quickly summarized what he knew and felt like an idiot for being so tense.

"_Well, of course it can't be her who attacked the village. The Fourth defeated it. And it was a giant fox bigger than a mountain."_

And with that in mind, he started eating.

* * *

After breakfast, Ran took the dishes away while telling Naruto to wait here. Chen went somewhere he didn't know and he simply did as told. After a while, Ran came back and told Naruto to follow her. Naruto wondered if Yukari woke up and that Ran was leading him to her, but they went outside and Ran stopped here. She turned to him and started explaining what would happen today.

"Today, I'm going to explain you some things you need to know about Gensokyo. I will only tell you some history, some things about youkais and humans, what is normal around here and the battle system in place. I am sure you will be able to figure out the rest yourself. After that, you will learn how to fight here."

And Naruto listened while she talked. He didn't want to disappoint Yukari with the chance she gave him and he didn't want to sound like an idiot when he would meet others persons. He was also interested in the way conflicts were resolved here. He wondered how good they were at this "danmaku" and he couldn't wait to try his hand at it.

From what he understood, Gensokyo was a world that was itself cut off from the rest of the world. He didn't understand that well why they separated themselves from the rest of the world, but he assumed that they simply wanted to continue the same lifestyle they had. He also didn't mind the fact that both youkais and humans could coexist without much problems. In fact, he was amazed that they could in the first place since youkais eating humans on occasions and humans exterminating youkais were common events. The Spell Card system also made sense to him, except about the part of holding back. However, once Ran explained that it was mostly a game and it insured that both participants would live after the battle, he had no more problems with it.

Of course, he didn't understand everything as she said it. Naruto asked many questions and Ran took the time to explain in more details until he understood.

Naruto wished there was a teacher like her at the Academy. The teachers there simply ignored his questions or just shoot a quick answer before continuing the class. To be fair, Naruto admitted that right now he was the only one learning right now, but he wished they paid more attention to his questions on the times he was actually calm and listening.

Noon came and they took a break so that Ran could prepare lunch. After eating, Ran finished telling Naruto what to expect in Gensokyo. Then she moved to the next topic she needed to teach him.

"Now that you should know enough to not cause unintentional trouble, it is now time for you to learn to fly."

Naruto being stunned was explaining his reaction mildly.

"Ehhh? Fly? As in going up in the sky?"

Ran chuckled a little. She expected that situation and Naruto's stunned face was just too funny to not enjoy.

"Yes. Pure Danmaku battles are usually fought in the sky. You will need to know this if you do not want to get trapped by simple bullet patterns. Also, since you have more chances of getting attacked by youkais on the roads, flying is a more secure way to travel. Even if the fight takes place at ground level, the knowledge of flying will help you jump short distances to avoid physical attacks or bullets." Ran explained.

"How come it is more secure? Can't youkais fly as well?"

"Yes, but they may decide to go for an easier target if they see you can fly. While you're not strong enough to really defend yourself from them yet, they may just decide to not take a chance if they think you are strong."

"I get it. So, how do I learn to fly?" Naruto was now impatient. There were no shinobis who were able to fly. If Naruto could learn to, he would instantly become popular. No way would anyone ignore him anymore!

However, he wondered what was wrong when Ran didn't say anything. He saw her tilt her head on the side and close her eyes… It wasn't hard to tell she was in deep thought.

"Actually… That is a pretty good question. How can I teach you that?" She finally said.

Naruto face-faulted, clearly not expecting that response. It didn't take long to collect himself, however.

"What do you mean, how? You're the one who said I had to learn to!"

"True…" Ran said. "But flying is actually something that one learns naturally. It is why no ordinary people can fly. You actually need to have enough power to do so."

Naruto closed his eyes, thinking about what she just said. He needed to have power to fly. He didn't have any idea how to and flying is supposed to be learned naturally. He came to one conclusion from this.

"Does that mean… I'm weak?" He asked in a whisper. He was last in the Academy and now he wouldn't be able to do anything. How was he supposed to get stronger if he couldn't even do things that were supposed to be natural here?

Ran's eyes hardened a little, prepared to squash any self-doubts he had.

"No. Yukari-sama would never have brought you here if you had no potential. Maybe you simply need to…"

"Ran-sama! Yukari-sama is awake!" A voice said, interrupting her. Chen's arrival confirmed that she was the one to have just talked. Ran nodded to her in response before turning to Naruto.

"Please wait here while I tend to Yukari-sama."

Ran then left, leaving both Naruto and Chen outside. Naruto turned to Chen, wondering about what just happened.

"Why does she need to go when Yukari wakes up? Is it for getting her food or something?"

Chen just sat down before answering in what Naruto thought was her usual happy mood. "Nope. It's just that Ran-sama must dress Yukari-sama when she wakes up."

Naruto took a second to process that information. When he fully understood what she said, he couldn't help but ask something else.

"Wait, can't she dress by herself? That dress she was wearing yesterday can't be that complicated to put on, right?"

Chen didn't take long to answer, already knowing the answer.

"Well, it's simply because she don't want to do it herself."

Naruto didn't want to, but he had to ask. "So… Is it just in the morning or is she really lazy like that all day?" He was almost afraid to hear the answer he actually expected.

"Yes! Yukari-sama doesn't do much by herself."

Naruto smacked himself at that. There was actually someone lazier than Shikamaru! He wondered how he would react if he learned it.

"_He'll probably just shrug it off and go back to sleep __again. Maybe he'll even say "troublesome" just for the fact that a girl is better than him at what he does best."_

He then sat down near a tree and closed his eyes, thinking about his current problem. If flying was natural, then the way to do so must be simple, right? So how the heck what he supposed to do it? Opening one eye, he noted that Chen was simply looking at him, curious about what he was doing.

"Chen, can you fly?" He decided to ask. Naruto already knew the answer to that, but he needed to make sure.

Chen blinked once, wondering why he asked such an obvious question. "Of course I can. Why do you ask?"

Naruto wondered if he should wait for Ran, but decided that Chen could maybe help him solve his problem. "What do you do when you fly? Do you do a sign, wave a hand or anything like that?"

That question only confused Chen more. "No. I just do."

Naruto wanted to bash his head against a wall. How could he learn to fly if everyone considered it as natural as walking or breathing? "_Fine then. If it's like that, then I'll just want it. I want to fly, so I'll fly NOW!"_

Unexpectedly, this is how Naruto finally understood how to fly. To his surprise, he started to rise in the air. He felt proud to finally understand how it was done. His happiness, however, lasted only two seconds as his head hit a branch of the tree he sat next to, which immediately sent him back to the ground.

When Ran and Yukari arrived, they found Naruto clutching his head in pain and Chen laughing.

* * *

After Naruto recovered, Yukari sent Ran to perform some duties that Naruto didn't fully understand. Chen choose to follow Ran and only Yukari and Naruto were at the edge of the forest outside the house at the moment.

"I suppose now is the time to teach you what you've been waiting for, right?" She said.

Naruto, all ears, nodded. He finally was going to learn to fight here.

"First, I need to ask you if you remember what chakra is composed of. Do you?"

Naruto closed his eyes, trying to remember what Iruka said at that lesson. He vaguely remembered something about it being composed of two things, but couldn't remember what they were.

"I remember that it's composed of two things, but I can't remember the rest…." Naruto answered, sadly.

Yukari chuckled, a little amused that Naruto was disappointed for such a little thing. "Don't worry. I took the time to check how things are done in your world. Basically, chakra is composed of body and spiritual energy. Here, danmaku only use spiritual energy."

Naruto listened, understanding that part. He wondered what he would need to do to only use one half of the ingredients of chakra, but figured it was what Yukari was going to explain next.

"Spiritual energy is simply used by force of will here. You need to imagine the type of bullet you want to shoot and simply will it to shoot forward."

Naruto waited, awaiting the next part. When Yukari said nothing, he was puzzled.

"That's it?"

Yukari nodded once with a smile. "Yes."

Naruto felt a sweat drop at the back of his head, but he simply chose to face at a tree to use as a target. He imagined something to use as a projectile and settled for a shuriken. He imagined it going forward and waited.

Nothing happened.

Yukari saw him look at her for an explanation. "It is not that easy, or everyone would do it. Danmaku is as natural as flying to us. I simply explained what we simply do as best as I could. You need to figure out the rest. Also, it will help if you imagine a simpler shape at first. Try thinking of a bright ball for example."

Naruto turned his head back at the tree again. He imagined a bright ball like the gap youkai suggested and once willed it to move forward. Once again, nothing happened. He tried to think of something obvious he missed, like for flying before.

"_I put my mind on it as much as I can, so that can't be the problem… __But it is not that easy. I will it and I have in my head what I want to shoot… Then only the energy is the problem then?_"

Naruto frowned at that thought. Did his spiritual energy even move when he first tried it?

He once again repeated the steps he did before. Nothing happened. He tried again, imagining a smaller ball, but nothing happened again. Frustrated, he shot a hand forward, imagined a bright ball and shouted "Shoot Already!"

A bright orange ball appeared and went forward, colliding with the tree in a small explosion. The tree was damaged superficially when the smoke cleared. Naruto looked surprised and Yukari smiled. Of course, it didn't take long for Naruto to scream his joy.

"Wohoo! I did it! With that and flying, I can finally kick Sasuke's ass! Wohoo!"

Yukari decided that now was a good moment to stop Naruto's joy. "You won't."

Naruto stopped shouting and moving, turning with a frown to Yukari. "Eh? What do you mean?"

"You simply won't be able to fly in your world. Danmaku will also be much harder to shoot in your world." She explained.

Naruto of course didn't understand why he wouldn't be able to at all. "Why?"

"Each world has their own rules set in them. In your world, the energy used to do jutsus is chakra. Here, the inhabitants of Gensokyo wouldn't be able to use chakra, even if they used handseals like in your world. But you would be able without problems, because you were born with the rules of your world in you. You can fly and use danmaku here because you currently are in this world, but those aren't the natural laws you were born with. Do you follow so far?"

Naruto was confused. "So I can do those because I'm here, but I won't be able to if I return home? And because chakra is normal in my world, I can use it with no problems here?"

Yukari nodded at Naruto. "Yes. If I went in your world, I could probably use chakra if I trained hard enough. However, since chakra is hard to control at first and that I'm already disadvantaged because it isn't part of the laws I was born with, it could probably take a year before I could do a simple jutsu. Here, danmaku is easy to do so you benefit from it. However, flying is a big contradiction between the laws here and in your world. That is why you will still be able to use danmaku in your world and be incapable of flying. Only those born here would still be able to fly."

Naruto nodded in understanding. "I see."

"Well, try to shoot many balls in a row now."

Naruto did so and it took him a while before being able to shoot them successively in a pace Yukari deemed acceptable. She had him shoot more than one bullet at once in different directions. It took Naruto 2 hours before he could finally shoot four balls at once in different directions since he had trouble thinking of different things at the same time.

"Finally, the only thing left to teach you is the use of spell cards."

Naruto sat down and listened to Yukari in silence.

"Spell cards are used to shoot an incredible number of bullets in a pattern at the same time, or it can also be used to send a great deal of power in a single shape. "

She then took out a card. Naruto didn't see what was so special with it, but he could read something on it. "_Bounded Field "Mesh o__f__…__"? What the heck does that mean?"_

Naruto saw that Yukari was smirking and was confused. She then continued her explanation. "An example would be best, don't you think?"

Before Naruto could catch on what she was saying, she was sitting on a gap she opened, floated a little away from him and declared. "Bounded Field _'Mesh of Light and Darkness'_."

Naruto saw himself surrounded by strange circles that suddenly shot lasers at him. He jumped to the side, surprised. "Whoa!" He took a pause to look around him and noticed the lasers trapped him but didn't move any closer to him. Before he understood what was going on, something crashed in his back, sending him to the ground.

Yukari stopped her attack and floated next to Naruto, waiting for him to get up. When he did, he was already screaming his anger off. "What the heck was that for?! That hurt!"

"I simply wanted to demonstrate how a spell card worked for you. Besides, you are hardly wounded, aren't you?"

Naruto looked at his back and noticed that, except for a slight burn mark he got, it didn't look like he was hurt at all. He turned back to Yukari, waiting for the rest of her explanations.

"Spell cards must always be declared when you intend to use them. When using a spell card, the only ways to stop the spell card is to willingly stop hit yourself, getting hit hard enough that your concentration slip and the spell is broken or after enough time passed. I'm sure Ran already explained most of the rules of a danmaku fight to you. She stopped talking, checking if Naruto followed what she said so far.

"To create a spell card, you must write the name you intend to use for it on a small card like you saw while sending spiritual energy and imagining all the bullets of the form you want to create and the path they will follow while writing it. The only rule you need to follow during the creation of a spell card is to have a beautiful name for it. The spell card will then take care of most of the motions when used and you will only need to give the spiritual energy to form bullets and the moment of when you want to send certain bullets if the patter has more than one part in it."

Naruto nodded in understanding.

"Then that is all I can teach you about danmaku." Yukari said, concluding her explanation.

Naruto took a step back in surprise. "What? There isn't anything else I should know?" He said, feeling that danmaku was more complicated than that.

"You must learn the rest yourself. What I used on you was simple for me, but it will take at least two years of training to develop a spell card like it unless you spend all your days on it. But it would still take a long time."

Naruto was surprised but didn't show it. "_That was simple?!_" he didn't want to know then was could be a complicated spell card for her.

"Then I'll leave if you understand this. Practice by yourself during that time. Ran should be back later for dinner."

Yukari then left, planning to visit a shrine while Naruto decided to practice shooting bullets with different shapes.

* * *

When Ran returned, Naruto was still practicing. After fixing dinner, she, Chen and Naruto ate. Naruto asked where Yukari was. Ran answered by saying she sometimes ate at someone else's place. Naruto left shortly after dinner to sleep, exhausted by all the training he did. Before Ran moved to clear the table, Chen asked her master a question.

"Ran-sama, did something happen to Yukari-sama?"

Ran stopped what she was doing to answer Chen. "What do you mean?"

"Why would she teach danmaku to that human boy when she could have told you to do it?" Chen said, curious at the behavior of her master's master.

Ran took a moment to think about what her shikigami just said. It was actually unusual for Yukari to do something Ran, or even Chen, could do. After thinking about it, she only had one answer for Chen.

"It seems she really has an interest in that boy."

End Chapter1.

* * *

AN : And it's over for now. As always, I would be grateful if you can send a PM about any mistakes if you spot them. I will correct them right away as soon as I read the PM.

I understand that it was more of a "Explanations chapter", but I really needed to do it before moving to others things. Of course, as with any crossovers, I need to change or even throw out some facts about the series if I want to continue. I do hope the explanations I gave will be enough.

If you have any idea for this fic, don't hesitate to send them. I'm always open to changes in my fic and I only want it to get better as it goes on.

Finally, please review if you can. Even small comments are appreciated. But flames will be ignored as always.


	3. Tainting Dreams

Author's notes : Here's the next chapter, sooner than I had expected myself. At first, it was supposed to be longer btu when I looked at all the parts I had to do to finish the chapter, I decided to cut it in two.

I would like to specially thanks Tama Saga, for spotting and helping me correct so many mistakes in the first and second chapters. Thanks.

EDIT: How the heck did I not notice I had changed this chapter for one already here... Oh well, mistake is fixed.

Disclaimer : I don't own Naruto and I don't own Touhou.

* * *

Chapter 2: Tainting Dreams

Naruto spent his second day training the whole day again. Ran led him and Chen into the forest and simply told them to fight using only physical attacks. She also told Chen to hold back since it was Naruto that needed training, which made Naruto protest that she didn't need to hold back. In his mind, he couldn't picture Chen being stronger than him.

Chen also guessed what Naruto was thinking and proceeded to prove him wrong by kicking him into a tree.

When Ran finally stopped them, Naruto was feeling pain in parts he didn't know. The whole spar was entirely one-sided. Naruto at first used the tree to launch attacks from unexpected angles but since he was always going straight for her, Chen simply dodged them and counter-attacked. Then Naruto started to use different strategies once he admitted to himself that what he was doing was completely worthless. Eventually, he managed to land a hit on Chen AND avoid retaliation. Encouraged by it, Naruto put even more efforts and successfully landed more and more hits.

However, Chen was unfazed by most hits. Naruto already learned that youkais were physically stronger than humans but had no idea of the difference until now. "_No wonder danmaku is the only way to fight them evenly._" He thought.

He then spent the afternoon practicing danmaku. After being sure he could fire round bullets without problems, he tried to send out different bullets. While he managed to send thinner bullets, he still couldn't shape them into kunais or shurikens like he wanted. Yukari, who had woke up by now, suggested him to wait until he completed his first spell card before trying to achieve more control on his bullets.

Nodding to her statement, he then worked on creating a spell card and thinking of a name for it. Unfortunately, he couldn't settle on an idea and even less on a name. Impressed by Yukari's spell card when she used it on him, he tried to imagine a spell card as great as possible, which eventually ended in failure. When he tried asking Yukari for help, she told him to start with a simple pattern and develop it to make it more difficult to avoid. She also told him that a name that was related to what he could do would help him visualize a pattern he would like. He started to review what he knew from the Academy...

"I got it! I knew Henge. And I sorta knew Kawarimi. That counts. And then there's my favorite, the Sexy no Jutsu."

He blinked and paused before touching his chin in thought, "And then...and then..." he muttered over and over before he finally sighed. "Well, crap."

Naruto decided to take the rest of the day to try firing more bullets simultaneously.

* * *

Naruto had some trouble getting out of bed the next day. His body still remembered all the pain Chen inflicted upon him. But he still managed to reach the dining room, letting out a small groan as his head finally entered the room.

"Don't underestimate Chen next time," Ran said with an amused chuckle as she set down the final dish.

"Naruto is here, can we eat now?" Chen demanded impatiently.

After breakfast, he went outside and waited for Ran to show up and tell him what they would do today. He hoped he wouldn't have to fight Chen again.

When she arrived, Naruto noticed she was carrying a hand basket. Curious, he simply went up to her.

"Naruto, I need to buy some food at the village today. Would you rather train here alone for now or do you want to go with me?" She asked him, when Naruto got close.

Naruto blinked at the question, but didn't take long to decide. "Sure."

Ran made a motion to indicate the sky. "Simply follow me then. The village isn't far if you fly to it."

She then took flight, followed shortly by Naruto. It didn't take long to reach the village and nothing happened on the way. After landing at the entrance, Naruto took the time to look around while following Ran. The village was a little bigger than what he imagined, but Naruto, although he never left Konoha before, thought it wouldn't look out of the ordinary in his world.

Of course, someone wearing orange (Naruto had decided to wear his jumpsuit today) easily caught the attention of passersby. It didn't take long for Naruto to notice that everyone seemed to be staring at him. While he should have been used to it, the curious and nonhostile looks only served to confuse him. He tried to ignore them by asking Ran things about the village.

The villagers were indeed curious. They knew Ran never did anything wrong when she came shopping, but it was the first time a human child followed her. While she was always polite when dealing with humans, she never spent more than a minute talking to them. The orange kid, who seemed to be a newcomer from outside judging by the questions he asked, just managed to converse with her for at least two minutes. He also asked questions to the shopkeepers at the market while Ran bought what she needed. They assumed he was a good kid. The only question they had left in their mind was where he lived.

After buying all the food she needed, Ran told Naruto they were leaving and walked towards the exit of the village. However, she noticed someone coming towards her. Recognizing the owner's hat, she stopped and waited.

"_She must have questions about Naruto…_" Ran thought.

Naruto, when he heard Ran, said goodbye to the shopkeeper and ran to join her. When he saw her stop, he wondered what was wrong and looked around. He immediately noticed someone wearing a strange hat coming their way. The hat looked like some kind of building with a red ribbon on top and some strange signs painted in red to the side. Her dress was dark blue with white short sleeves, and a red ribbon was tied to the bottom of the collar. He also noticed when she was close that she had brown eyes and long silver hair with blue highlights.

"Hello Ran." The girl said when she stopped walking.

"Hello Keine." Ran said, returning the greeting.

Naruto just decided to be polite too and present himself at the same time. "Hi miss. I'm Uzumaki Naruto."

Keine turned to him and presented herself too. "I am Keine Kamishirasawa. I teach history at the school. I also guard the village."

Naruto already liked her. She protected people just like the old man, so it meant she was strong, right?

"Is there something you wished to speak with me, Keine? I would like to go home soon." Ran asked. She already knew, but she needed to ask anyway.

"You already know why. Can you explain where does he come from?" Keine said, nodding towards Naruto, who choose to remain quiet for now.

Ran had to make a decision. The truth would come out sooner or later, but she didn't think now would be the time to reveal it. If she told the truth, Keine would maybe misunderstand what Yukari wanted to do and attack. While she could easily deal with her, she could alert Reimu and the situation would quickly turns bad. If she lied, she would get suspicious and wouldn't need to search for long before coming to a conclusion of her own.

However, the decision was taken out of her hands by Naruto.

"Well, Yukari, a nice lady who saw me, decided to make me visit Gensokyo, here. I'm staying at her house. She's also teaching me how to fight."

Ran had to resist the urge to hit Naruto on the head. In an attempt to reassure Keine, he did the exact opposite. Then again, she had forgotten to tell him how Yukari was perceived by others. Keine devoted herself to protect humans. Yukari was seen as eccentric at best most of the time. Even she would find it difficult to call her master nice. She was also known has to have no real interest for humans, except a few exceptions.

Right now, Keine was in a state of shock from what Naruto just said. The passersby watching the scene chose to take cover, not wanting to be caught by stray shots of the danmaku battle that would soon come.

Ran sighed, before handing her hand basket to Naruto. "Hold this for me for now and step back." She really didn't want to fight right now, but Yukari would not be happy if Naruto was taken by Keine. She only hoped she could calm down Keine fast, preferably before the battle even started.

As if on cue, at the same time Naruto was at what Ran judged a safe distance, Keine moved forward, one of her hand inside her robe to grab a spell card. Ran caught her arm before she managed to take it out, however.

"Keine, stop."

"Like hell I'm going to! If you think I'm going to let Yukari…" She was cut off as Ran sent her to the ground and pinned her to it.

"I do not wish to fight. However, I will if you force me to and you should know by now that you cannot defeat me." Ran was not bluffing. Keine knew it too.

Ran let her go and Keine stood up, brushing the dirt off her with her hands. "What is she planning with him?" She asked, still suspicious.

"Exactly what Naruto just said. She simply took an interest in him and offered him to visit Gensokyo. She promised to send him back if he choose to."

Keine was still doubtful, but had no choice but believe Ran for now. Turning to Naruto, she walked towards him as he himself started to walk back to Ran. "If you ever need help, you can always come here." She then walked away.

Naruto, seeing her go, turned back to Ran. "What was that about?" He said as he handed her basket back to her.

"It was simply a misunderstanding. I need to explain some things to you about Yukari once we are home." She answered.

* * *

After leaving the village, the pair started to flew back home. However, Ran sensed something wrong two minutes after leaving the village. She stopped, and Naruto, who followed her, did the same, did the same, curious about why she stopped.

"Naruto, fairies are coming. I want you to take care of them." She said. It would be the first real time Naruto would fight in Gensokyo. She needed to know if Naruto could at least defend himself against common youkais.

Naruto nodded and prepared himself to shoot. He didn't want to let Ran down and he didn't want Yukari to think he was weak or afraid.

What he saw, however, disturbed him a little. What he saw coming were, to him, tiny little girls, all dressed with a blue robe with wings. Naruto, feeling uneasy, shot one bullet towards one of them and saw her burst when it made contact with her, no trace of her remaining. His uneasiness grew, his mind locked on the fact that he took out a life so easily.

Ran watched all of it and decided to shake Naruto out of it. It wouldn't do to let him get killed just because he couldn't take himself to fight back.

"Naruto, basic youkais don't think much. They act mostly on instinct and are quite dangerous to humans in large groups, despite their appearance. I already explained how things work in Gensokyo. If you do not act, I will."

Naruto, although weakly, nodded silently and started to shoot more bullets at them, while dodging the few they were firing back. After a minute or so, it was already over.

"Let's go back." Ran said.

Naruto silently nodded again and followed her.

* * *

"Why are you depressed?" Ran asked first, once they reached the household. She had made Naruto wait in the dining room while she stored the food she bought. Naruto hadn't changed at all during the time she was away.

Naruto's head immediately snapped up and looked at Ran in astonishment, as if the reason was the most obvious thing in the world.

"You simply killed youkais. There is nothing to be sad about." Ran continued, unaffected by the glare Naruto was giving her.

"What do you mean nothing?!" He finally said, angered. "Why did I have to kill them? It's not like they would ever harm someo-"

"Fool. Do you judge only by appearances?" Ran said sharply, cutting off the rest of what Naruto wanted to say. When Naruto said nothing, she continued her explanation.

"They were weak, yes, but only for those who can actually fight back. Why do you think Keine protect the human village?"

Naruto didn't take long to understand the obvious answer. "_Because they cannot fight them_." He thought. If they couldn't fight back, then even the weakest youkai could kill them easily.

"Those youkais are the most basics of youkais and act mostly on instinct. They hunt humans as an animal hunt another animal for food. If they hadn't attacked us, they would have attacked someone else."

"I see…" He said, understanding. He already learned about the balance between youkais and humans in Gensokyo, but actually witnessing it was quite another story. "But _do they really have to look like this?_" he wondered. He still felt pretty bad for them.

"How many humans do you think I killed?" Ran suddenly asked. Naruto looked up again at her with surprise, trying to accept the full implication what she said.

"I killed so many humans that I lost count. Yukari-sama also killed a great number of humans before. Chen also did, despite what you may think of her. Even if we stopped doing it, we are still youkais. If humans anger us, we won't mind killing them."

Naruto could only look at her with stunned surprise. He didn't think about it before, but he didn't think Ran was lying. There was no reason for her to lie on this.

"What is your dream Naruto? And explain it well." Ran asked, changing subject again.

Naruto wondered why she asked that, but was happy to simply announce his dream that he was going to make true in the future.

"To be the Hokage! I'm going to be the strongest ninja in Konoha and everyone will respect me." He shouted happily.

Seconds passed in silence, creating an ominous pause in the room.

"How many will die for your dream then?"

For the third time in a matter of minute, Naruto once again looked in surprise at Ran, but said nothing. When the fact that he was waiting for her to explain herself was apparent, Ran continued.

"You will have to face enemies that won't mind killing you. To stop you from succeeding, to hurt the village by eliminating a candidate for the post or simply because you were in the way on their mission. Some will retreat, but others will fight to the death to accomplish that. It is inevitable that you will end up killing some, if not most them. Since you want to be the strongest, I imagine that will kill even more than those who would settle for something less than the strongest."

She took a pause, letting what she said sink into Naruto's mind before continuing. "Even when you reach your dream, the killing won't stop. Some will want to hurt the village's moral and others will seek to take your place no matter what. Because you will need to make decisions, you will even be responsible sometimes for the deaths of your own allies because you made a wrong choice."

"Naruto, you have no choice but to adapt to death. It is normal to not like it, but you cannot feel sad whenever you cause death or you will end up insane. Today, you simply killed in a struggle for life. It was the same for them, but it is impossible for both sides to win. They died, you lived."

"I understand…" Naruto finally said, being even more depressed than earlier.

He always dreamed to be Hokage, but he never thought before about the path leading to it. Ran hadn't said anything false. He would have no choice but to kill again if he wanted his dream to become true. Idly, he wondered how it was for old man Sarutobi. He was like a kind grandfather for the young ninjas, but he too must have killed.

He also wondered how many in the Academy understood this. He already knew now that learning about it and doing it was two different things. He had no doubt some of them understood this, but others he knew more left him in doubt. "_Could Sakura-chan kill? Could Chouji? Could Shikamaru?_"

He went outside to reflect on this. Ran watched him leave witha neutral look on her face before returning to her duties.

* * *

"Where are we going?" Naruto asked, holding Yukari's hand as she made her way in the gap she opened. While he wanted to release it and try travelling on his own, she explained quite clearly that only she could safely make her way in it. Naruto didn't dare to try proving it wrong.

"Simply visiting a friend who wants me to present you." She answered. She learned about the incident in the village and she was already prepared to receive a letter from her friend about her current interest. The number of humans that have actually interested Yukari at least once was less than five and gossip could spread fast in Gensokyo. With those facts, she wasn't surprised when she learned of a letter for her that arrived in the morning.

Opening a gap to her destination with a motion of her hand, she stepped out in front of what Naruto could describe as a small tower. However, he didn't ponder about it too much as the air around him felt strange to him. Looking at Yukari, she simply answered the unsaid question.

"This is Hakugyokurou, the mansion of the Netherworld." She said in her usual tone.

Naruto nodded in acceptance. Then he stared at her for a second in surprise when he remembered her mention of the Netherworld.

"Netherworld, you mean where people…"

"Yes, the land of the dead, you could say."

Naruto gulped. He didn't like ghosts, and he didn't want to end up possessed or haunted by the end of the day. Following very closely behind Yukari, they entered the mansion.

The inside of the house didn't look different from typical mansions Naruto visited (mostly for pranks) before. Since he was behind Yukari, he could not see someone already waiting for them.

"Welcome lady Yukari. Lady Yuyuko is waiting in the garden."

Surprised by the voice, Naruto peeked from behind Yukari to look at the person who just spoke. What he saw was a young girl wearing a dark green and white dress with ghost insignias at the edges and the breast pocket. There was a black ribbon placed off-center on her short silver hair. Her eyes were dark blue and he saw two different swords placed on her back. The longer one had a flower attached to the hilt. Close to her was a formless ghost about as large as the girl herself.

Curious and not expecting someone like her to be here, he moved from behind Yukari and bowed to her while presenting himself.

"Err… I'm Naruto Uzumaki. Nice to meet you." He said, feeling a little uncomfortable. She seemed strict and a little cold and Naruto didn't want to be on her bad side, considering that she had to be a friend of Yukari.

The girl responded by bowing herself. The ghost also moved, but it was hard to tell what it was doing. Naruto thought it was bowing too.

"I am Youmu Konpaku. I am the gardener of Hakugyokurou."

She then led them through a passageway before reaching the rear of the mansion, where the garden was located. Naruto expected something small but beautiful. What he saw blew him away.

"Whoa…" He said, awed.

Naruto never saw many cherry trees before, since they were mostly in the park in Konoha, but he couldn't even begin to count the number of cherry trees in the garden before him. In fact, he couldn't even see the end of the garden from his position. The only thing he could see in the distance was what Naruto thought was the biggest tree in existence.

However, it seemed really far on foot and he returned to admiring the rest of the garden.

"Beautiful, isn't it?"

Naruto turned to his right to see who had spoken. The person in front of him was wearing a light blue and white kimono with dark blue trim and a blue poofy hat with a red ghost insignia on the front. She had maroon eyes and short wavy pink hair. Several formless ghosts, all much smaller than the one with Youmu, were floating around her.

Overall, Naruto thought he was in the presence of a princess. What he didn't know was that he quite close to the correct answer.

"I am Yuyuko Saigyouji. I am the one in charge of the souls of the dead in the world." She said.

Naruto immediately bowed while presenting himself, showing once again manners he didn't know he had. He decided that it was just the air that Yuyuko was giving off that prompted him to act like this.

"I am Naruto Uzumaki." He simply said. After being sure he bowed long enough, he put himself straight again and waited nervously for whatever could happen next.

What he didn't expect was to hear her laugh. She wasn't laughing loudly, but the softness of her laugh made Naruto feel embarrassed.

"You don't have to be so tense and act formal, Naruto. Apart from the ghosts, Youmu and I are the only ones living here." She said, smiling.

Naruto, of course, could only feel even more red and nervous than before.

"My, my, do I impress you that much? Youmu, take Naruto for a walk in the garden so that he can relax."

"As you ask, Yuyuko-sama."

After calling Naruto to follow her, Youmu led him in the garden. Naruto didn't take long to follow, beating himself mentally for acting like an idiot.

Yukari smiled the whole time at Naruto's reaction and chuckled as he was leaving. "I certainly didn't expect him to act this way. How long was it since someone reacted that way to you?"

Yuyuko, still smiling, sat down before answering.

"I think Youmu was the last one the first day she started working here."

Yukari sat down too, enjoying the scenery.

"I suppose you want to hear why I brought him to Gensokyo?" She asked.

"I admit he looks different, but I know it takes more than that to interest you, Yukari."

"He interests me," she commented lazily before she proceeded to tell her friend just what interested her when it came to the newest human.

* * *

Naruto was finally able to calm down a minute after leaving. He never saw any princess before and he hoped he hadn't made a wrong impression. Following Youmu, he enjoyed looking at the cherry trees on both side of him as both walked slowly.

Naruto also noticed other ghosts in the garden. In fact, there was too many for him to count. But he was glad they didn't bother to look at him when he was close to them.

"They too are enjoying the garden and help clean it. It is after all a land of rest for them."

Naruto was surprised at the unexpected comment from Youmu, but didn't let it show. Walking next to her, he decided it was safe to talk to her.

"Not that I'm complaining, but is that all they do? They don't even seem bothered that I'm here. Don,t they get bored after a while?"

Youmu simply answered with her usual normal tone.

"Lady Yuyuko sent me with you. They are usually bothered when someone alive is coming but since I am here, they know you must be a friend of lady Yuyuko. As for if they are bored or not... You would need to be dead to understand."

"Errr... I think I'll pass. Wait, what? A friend of her? Me?"

"Of course. Yuyuko-sama has no reason to dislike you and you are a friend of lady Yukari. Unless you act poorly, she has no reason to not like you. Of course, if you actually did so, I would have to… take care of you."

Gulping at the obvious threat, he decided to turn the conversation towards a subject he was curious about. Which was the larger ghost following Youmu.

"Why is it following you?"

Youmu looked in confusion at Naruto.

"What do you mean?"

Naruto decided to just point the source of his curiosity.

"The ghost just next to you, how come it always follows you?"

Youmu was no longer confused at the question and answered in a tone that simply told a normal fact.

"It is me."

Now it was Naruto's turn to be confused. Pointing at the ghost, then at Youmu and back at the ghost again, he couldn't even begin to voice the question of how she was a ghost and a human at the same time.

"I am a half-ghost. This is simply my ghost half, which is me. We are both "Youmu"." She answered, guessing correctly what he wanted to ask.

Naruto wanted to ask how a person could be a ghost and a human at the same time, but decided against it. He wasn't even sure he wanted to know the answer. He simply chose to continue walking and talking with Youmu.

* * *

When they returned to the mansion, Yukari and Yuyuko were still talking. Youmu excused herself, going to the kitchen to prepare lunch. Yuyuko turned to Naruto, greeting him and motioned for him to sit next to her. He did so.

"Welcome back Naruto. I trust you enjoyed your walk?" She asked with her usual smile.

"O… Of course Yuyuko-hime." Naruto answered, embarrassed by how she treated him. Yuyuko laughed when she saw his blush. Feeling playful, she grabbed him from behind, which only made him redden even more.

"Aww, you're so cute like that... Now what did I tell you before? Don't be so tense. Just 'Yuyuko' will be fine. Try it."

"Yu… Yuyuko… Errr… Can you release me please?" Naruto asked quietly, feeling even more embarrassed than before.

Unfortunately for him, this only made him appear even cuter and made Yuyuko glomps Naruto even harder. After a minute or so, she released him. He immediately set himself a little further away from Yuyuko, face as red as a tomato. The whole time, Yukari only watched, amused by her friend's antics.

"You're so fun to tease… You know, you can stay here if you want. Dying isn't as horrible as some makes it out to be and it should be painless if I do it…" Yuyuko said.

Naruto turned from red to white in a matter of seconds, quickly voicing his opinion on the idea and praying she wouldn't take his refusal the wrong way.

"Awww… That's too bad." She said, pouting in some sort of amused manner. "Can you stay for lunch then?"

Naruto started wondering from this moment if it was even possible for her to get angry or upset.

* * *

Accepting the invitation, Yukari and Naruto both stayed for lunch. During the meal, Naruto discovered another side of Yuyuko he didn't expect.

There was a saying at the Academy saying that you should never put yourself between Chouji and food. Naruto now thought that putting himself between Yuyuko and food was even more dangerous.

They left soon afterward. Youmu and Yuyuko both saw them leave and Yuyuko told him that if he had to die, to do so in Gensokyo so that she wouldn't miss him.

Naruto wasn't sure how to take it, but smiled anyway. She was nice and it wasn't like he disliked the Netherworld.

"So Naruto, what do you think of the afterlife?" Yukari asked, while closing the gap she used to travel home.

"It was nice. I didn't imagine death was like this… Does everyone go here or…"

"Souls are judged of course, but those invited by Yuyuko are assigned there automatically. Of course, death is different for each world. Your afterlife depends on the laws of the world you are in, not where you come from.

"I see." Answered Naruto. So he still had no idea what happened to the soul in his world. At least he now knew there was an afterlife. He decided to go in the forest to train.

"Naruto," Yukari said, making him stop. "You didn't forget that you will have to decide soon, right?"

Naruto searched in his memory, confused about what she was asking about, but he remembered fast.

"Oh yeah… There's already less than half a week left, right?"

Yukari nodded.

"Don't forget that you have to decide by yourself. You have the right to remain here if it is what you decide. Nobody will come and say you made the wrong decision."

Naruto said nothing, but Yukari easily saw he was in deep thought. He left, mentioning he would be back for dinner.

Yukari smiled. All was going according to plan. He already had more friends here than in his world. He also saw the dark side of his dream. A few more encounters in the remaining days and she had no doubt he would choose to stay here. She hadn't even revealed to him the secret of the village about him yet. When she thought about it, all was going even better than what she had planned.

Naruto will choose to stay. Then, she would be able to watch and help his growth. She had no doubt he had potential. Everyone in his world just missed it.

But not her. Certainly not. Watching him get stronger and better would be the most interesting thing to do for quite a good number of years. Life never seemed boring around him. She knew he would never really become the best, but he had everything in hand to become one of the strongest.

Naruto Uzumaki Yakumo… It had such a nice ring to it…

End Chapter 2.

* * *

Author's notes: Done! Hope you enjoyed it!

For anyone who want to discuss this story, I created a forum for this purpose. The link is in my profile. As always, I accept comments and ideas. I know what I want to do, but I can always change parts of it.

As always, reviews are greatly appreciated. Nothing can be more motivating than that.


	4. Decision

Author's notes : Here's the next chapter. But before that, I have a small problem and I would like your opinion about it.

As you know, I write names with last name first. However, I think it sounds weird on some names. Should I leave the names like that or do you have an idea about what I could do?

Anyway, let's not delay the chapter any further.

Also, I found out that I had the same chapter posted twice... I can't believe I did that kind of mistake... And that nobody told me! Anyway, the correct chapter was posted now.

Disclaimer : I don't own Naruto and Touhou.

* * *

Chapter 3: Decision

"You're going to dodge everything Chen shoots at you at this time." Ran said, beginning the training of Naruto for the day.

"Ehhh? Why do I need to practice that? Shouldn't I try to get stronger instead?" Naruto replied, protesting.

Ran sighed. Naruto was a much better listener when it was Yukari teaching him. Why couldn't she be here?

A loud snore took that moment to leave the mansion. Oh right, Ran thought with a sigh, she's sleeping.

"Chen… Demonstration please." Ran answered with a sigh. At least he did what she told him once he saw why his idea was wrong.

Chen acted at once by sending successively three waves of round bullets, each wave forming a V towards Naruto. This wasn't one or two bullets like he was used to, and Naruto panicked and tried to run. He wasn't fast enough and before he knew it, there was a brief flare of pain as the bullets caught up to him and knocked him to the ground. He quickly pushed himself to his feet, completely forgetting that there were several waves. He was painfully knocked down once again. This time he stayed on the ground, moaning in pain.

Ran calmly walked towards him at a slow pace before stopping next to him. She leaned over so that her mouth was above his ear.

"What is the point of being stronger if you get shot down before even doing anything?" She asked with a smirk, answering Naruto's earlier question. Naruto pretended that he hadn't heard her question as he slowly got back up.

"So, how can I dodge that?" He asked. He made a mental note of not questioning what Ran was teaching from now on… That last hit hurt!

"Surely you noticed the gaps between each bullet, right?" Ran asked, satisfied that Naruto had finally stopped protesting.

Naruto took a moment to recall what he had seen before he tried to run away. He did notice that there was space between each bullet, but what did it have to do with…

"Wait, I have to pass between them?!" Naruto shouted in realization. The bullets weren't that fast, but if he had to look for those spaces, watch out for others bullets and react and move fast enough all at the same time…

"You could just dodge them by going to either side, true, but your opponent would know where you are going and send more bullets towards you and sending more to each side." Ran explained. "We'll start by training you in the air, since it will be easier to move and dodge. Then we'll return to the ground afterwards once you are good enough to dodge while flying."

Nothing more was said and all three went up in the sky to start the training.

* * *

Dodging wasn't as hard as Naruto had expected. It wasn't the same as running from ninjas that didn't take well his pranks, but the same rule of not putting yourself into a corner still applied. Starting with one bullet at a time, Chen started to shoot more and more of them at the same time. Once Naruto managed to dodge them all for a good while without getting hit, Ran stopped Chen.

She explained to him that not all bullets would always be sent directly at him. Before he could ask why, he saw her summon what she called familiars. All of a sudden, he was beseiged by bullets from all directions.

Crossfire, delayed homing shots, being shot from the front and from behind at the same time… Ran went through many different styles to test Naruto. He managed to avoid some patterns and got mercilessly shot down by others. Thankfully he quickly learned to block out the pain whenever he was hit. Otherwise he would have crashed to the ground when he lost his concentration.

Ran then moved the training to ground level. Naruto had a much more difficult time as Ran only permitted him to jump and change direction in mid-air.

In the end, he could only dodge the bullets 30 percent of the time. However, it seemed it was sufficient for Ran and she finally called out that it was time for lunch. After lunch, she gave him some money (Naruto had his wallet, but Ran reminded him that it wasn't Gensokyo's currency) and told him that he could go to the village on his own as long as he came back before nightfall. While youkais had little problem attacking humans during the day, most of them preferred to do so at night. The money was in case he wanted something at a shop.

He reached the village without any problems and landed at the entrance. After wandering in, he simply walked around without a destination in mind.

Stumbling upon the market place he saw a few days ago, he decided to try to find something to buy with the money he had. The shopkeepers were polite and he stuck around to talk with some of them, with clients occasionally joining the conversation.

"_People here are nice… Why can't they be as nice in Konoha?_" Naruto wondered, exiting the latest shop that had interested him. He still hadn't bought anything so far.

For a moment, he remembered Yukari's words from yesterday.

_"You have the right to remain here if it is what you decide. Nobody will come and say you made the wrong decision."_

"_Maybe… Maybe it would be better for me if I remained here…_" He thought, unsure. Shaking his head to clear it, he decided to think about it later. He glanced up at the next shop, a pharmacy. He was about to just pass by and ignore it when he noticed something written at the window.

"Kochoumugan at 20 percent off this week. Have enjoyable and nightmare-less dreams for a cheaper price. "He read.

Something to have good dreams?

Naruto couldn't deny that he had pretty bad nightmares sometimes. He decided to go inside to see what the 'Kochoumugan' was.

The pharmacy itself was small. There was only one aisle with different medicines on both sides of it. The check-out counter also had others products on display. Behind the counter was a woman with long silver hair tied into a large braid on her back. She had dark-grey eyes and her clothes were blue and red, with constellation patterns covering the clothes. She was also wearing some sort of nurse's cap on her head.

She was reading a book when she heard the door open and close. Setting the book down on the counter, she looked up to see who had just entered. The first thing she noticed what the unusual color of clothes he wore, orange. That color made her think of the rumors she heard on her way today.

"_Orange clothes, blond hair…_ _So he is the kid Yukari took in. Let's try to see what she saw in him_" She thought, the beginnings of a smile forming on her face. She knew he was new around and the gossips talked frequently about him. Of course, the main question that was on their mind was why he stayed with Yukari, the youkai that could very well be considered the most eccentric person in Gensokyo.

"Welcome. Can I help you find anything?" She asked, taking the initiative.

"Hmm… I wanted to ask about the Kochoumugan…" He stammered, a little confused from the way she was smiling at him. He knew his jumpsuit wasn't common around here, but still…

"The Kochoumugan, or Butterfly Dream Pill if you prefer, simply makes you dream of being a butterfly and enjoying yourself. It can be used to avoid nightmares, but it can become an addiction if you use it that way too much. Is there a reason why you want it?" She asked, curious about why a kid wanted to have artificially created dreams.

"Well...my nightmares can get really bad some nights, you know?" He answered, hoping she wouldn't ask further. He really did not want to think about his nightmares.

"If you say so." The pharmacist said with a shrug. "But shouldn't you talk with your parents first about these nightmares before coming here and asking about the Kochoumugan?"

Naruto's face darkened slightly as his face lost its good cheer. He remained quiet.

The pharmacist noticed his change in mood, and she immediately knew that she had said something wrong. But the set look on her face told him that she wasn't going to sell him the pills unless he gave her a suitable explanation.

"I'm an orphan…" Naruto said, reluctantly. "I always had to take care of myself…"

"_No parents?_" She thought, a frown appearing on her face. "_And no relatives to take care of him, judging from what he said…just where did Yukari find that boy?_"

"I'm sorry for the questions, but I need to protect my business," she lied. "Well then," she continued, "you said you wanted Kochoumugan?" she asked, changing the topic to something safer. She wanted to ask more questions, but she had already upset him a little. Asking more private questions right now would reach nowhere.

Naruto bought the mental medicine. While there was a price reduction on it, it still cost him a good part of what Ran gave him. He went to exit the pharmacy, deciding to just walk around now.

"Say, did you visit the shrine yet?" The pharmacist asked. While she knew her question had nothing to do with it, she wondered on a whim how the shrine maiden in charge would react to him.

"A shrine? Where?" Naruto asked, curious. He vaguely remembered hearing about them before, but there were none in Konoha.

The woman gave him the directions. He was about to leave when she called to him again. He turned, curious about what she wanted now.

"I am Eirin Yagokoro. What's your name boy?" She asked with a smile. She wanted to know his name at least, to associate a name to his face.

A grin formed on his face. "Naruto Uzumaki! The ne-" he started to say before he caught himself.

"The Ne..." Eirin asked. "Next?"

"No no, it's nothing," Naruto said with an airy wave of his hand, although there was a slight grimace on his face. He didn't like to have to squash the feeling of shouting he would be the best Hokage ever, but Ran explained to him quite clearly nobody would understand what it meant anyway, unless he explained it quite well. Something that Naruto didn't want to bother with.

* * *

Landing just at the end of the stair, Naruto wondered why a shrine was so far from the village. He had no trouble reaching it by air, but for those who couldn't fly, wouldn't it take forever to reach?

"_Then again…__" _He thought, turning to look behind him. The view here was great. In fact, he thought he could see all of Gensokyo from here. He decided that if he hadn't known how to fly, he would have walked here at least once.

Reaching the entrance, he saw two persons at the shrine. One had a wide-brimmed black pointy hat leaning low over her face, shielding her eyes. A small movement caused him to lower his eyes, and he soon beheld one of the world's largest snot bubbles slowly expand and contract. It pushed against a helpless braid that dangled on one side of her face. Naruto was pretty certain that she was sleeping.

He glanced briefly at the frilly apron resting on the girl's black and pink robes before he turned to the other person at the gate.

This one was drinking from a giant gourd with a bored look on her face. His eyes immediately moved to the back of her head, where a long orange ponytail flopped up and down as she drank. He glanced upwards a little where he saw something that was a bit more interesting, two long straight horns decorated with ribbons.

And then she turned to him. Naruto immediately looked away and pretended that he wasn't staring. But he continued to watch her from the corner of his eyes. And then he saw her beckon to him. When he made no move, he felt something strike him against his head moments later.

"Ow!"

Bending down to check the figure she threw at him. It had horns with ribbons, a tattered pink blouse... Wait a second, was this a miniature version of that girl he just saw? However, it dissipated before he could make sure.

He looked up and saw her beckon cheerily to him again. He had no choice to comply, otherwise he was sure she wouldn't hesitate to throw another mini-clone of herself at him.

When he got close, she jumped up from her seat and stood before him, "Hi kiddo! It's pretty rare to see ordinary humans around here." She said in a jovial manner, greeting him.

Naturally, Naruto didn't take being called a kid by someone of the same height as him very well.

"Don't call me that! And aren't you a kid yourself?" He shouted, angry.

The girl simply started to laugh, angering Naruto even more. The two didn't notice that they were waking someone up with their loud  
noise.

When the horned girl finally stopped laughing, she gave the irate blond boy a confident grin.

"I'm not a kid, kid. I'm Suika Ibuki and I'm an oni." She said smugly. There was a pop as the napping witch blearily opened her eyes.

"Oh yeah? I'm Naruto Uzumaki and I'm going to…" He started to say, but whatever he was going to say was cut off as a star-shaped bullet collided on his head, sending him to the ground. He noticed Suika lying face first in the ground, a star-shaped mark on the back of her head hissing slightly. He looked at the witch, now fully awake.

"Can't you keep it down? I was trying to sleep here, ze." She said in a grumpy tone.

"That wasn't a reason to shoot us!" Naruto said, angry. "And who are you anyway?"

"Hmm? Marisa Kirisame. If you're looking for Reimu, she went on an errand. She'll be back later." Marisa answered, still feeling a little sleepy.

"What? She's away? And after I took the time to come here…" A new voice said.

Naruto turned to see who had spoken. He saw a short girl with red eyes with bat wings on her back. She had short light-blue hair and she was wearing a light red dress with a poofy hat of the same color. She was also holding a parasol. Behind her was another girl with dark blue eyes and silver hair. She had a braid on each side of the face and she was wearing a pink and dark blue maid's outfit. She also had a pink bonnet on her head. She was holding a parasol to protect herself from the sun.

As the red-eyed girl complained about wasted time, Naruto turned to Suika to ask something.

"Who's the short kid?" He asked, completely obvious on the fact that said girl heard him and was giving him a glare that would have made many flee. The maid behind her tensed and waited for the order to punish Naruto for the offense.

Obviously, it had the opposite effect on the other two girls. Marisa was snickering and Suika was trying to hold her laughter. Naruto wondered what was going on, ignorant of whom he just had insulted. The girl had enough of the snickering and decided to speak.

"Just who are you calling a 'short kid'? I am Remilia Scarlet, 500 years old vampire. So watch out what you say about me, little brat." She said, angrily. She was not going to let herself be made fun of by an orange kid who just…

"So you're an old granny then?" Naruto asked. He didn't like her bossy attitude. And she called him a brat!

Unfortunately, he was going to regret what he said in a few moments.

Marisa couldn't hold herself back anymore. She burst out laughing, loudly. That kid just came here and called Remilia a kid, then an old granny! Nobody had ever done that before! She definitely liked that kid now.

Suika didn't bother to hold her laughter back either. She too was starting to like the kid. On the other side, Remilia was quietly fuming. The maid next her remained motionless, but there was a frown on her face.

"Sakuya, hold this for me while I kill the brat. Silence those two while I'm at it." Remilia said in a strange calm tone, handing her parasol to her maid. Sakuya, the maid, just nodded and a handful of knives found their way into her hand, ready to be thrown.

Naruto suddenly stopped laughing when something cold and dark suddenly seemed to enshroud him, suffocating him. His mind, experiencing killing intent for the first time, immediately screamed at him to flee, but he couldn't seem to move his legs.

"Critical 'Heart Break'" Remilia muttered, and the spell card that she had drawn burst into flames. A magic circle formed under her and an energy lance appeared in her hand almost immediately after. It was red and looked a little unstable since the energy wasn't still. However, it was only a sign of how much spiritual power was put into it. The small vampire had no problem holding it like an ordinary spear, completely unaffected by the amount of energy she was holding. Naruto started praying for a god-sent miss, because there was no doubt about it...

He was going to die.

"Any last words you want to say, little brat?" She asked for good measure.

"Hmm… Why do you call me little when you're even shorter than me?" He asked, his arms folded and his eyes curious, as if he wasn't in front of imminent doom.

Instead of answering, Remilia threw the spear. The ever-stoic Sakuya quickly shielded her eyes as hurricane-levels of wind suddenly blew past her as the spear shot forward with a loud crack.

There was no way he could dodge something that fast! The world seemed toslow as it inched closer and closer to him. Right when he felt he could touch it, he felt something wrap tightly around his throat. He couldn't scream.

The air was filled with bits of red and gold as the spear of energy struck the temple, obliterating a section and destroying the good luck fortunes stored within.

Dust obscured the battlefield, reducing visibility.

Up in the air, Naruto flailed a moment before he could finally get his shirt to stop choking him. He twisted around to see who was grabbing the back of his shirt.

"Naruto, was it? You're too funny to get killed after that, ze!" Marisa said with a giant grin as she clasped the broom with one hand while holding onto him with another. She hauled him up onto her broom before moving sharply.

Naruto watched as a spear of energy passed by harmlessly. Thankfully, that one had nothing else to hit and disappeared, energy dissipating, after flying a certain distance. He felt the broom lurch again.

"Hang on tight while I dodge, she won't last long under sunlight," Marisa announced before Naruto felt his stomach shoot upwards as the broom suddenly shot downwards.

Marisa suddenly veered to the left and another spear flew by and hit an unlucky tree. As bits of wood rained down everywhere, Naruto couldn't help but tighten his grip.

"Not so tight, ze!" Marisa complained as she leveled out the broom.

Naruto, from his position, looked around and noticed Suika holding back Sakuya, swinging her gourd at her. Sakuya jumped back, letting the gourd hit the ground instead. A large crater appeared revealing that the odd weapon was far more solid and Suika far more stronger than they looked. Another spear flashed past them, and Naruto quickly returned his attention to Remilia. There was a frustrated look on her face as she formed another spear to throw, but he noticed that she was starting to sweat a little.

"Another danmaku-user? Then I'll let you play with her while I dodge!" Marisa announced happily, before turning to pass next to Remilia, laughing while doing so. Naruto sent a barrage of bullets while she passed. Remilia moved sideway before sending her own barrage, which Marisa dodged in turn.

This went on for around ten minutes. Neither Remilia nor Naruto, helped by Marisa, would get hit by whatever each other launched. Remilia couldn't use another spell card right now due to the sunlight. Suika and Sakuya, still on the ground, were still fighting, with Suika having the upper hand with her superior strength.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!! The Shrine!!!" Someone screamed. Everyone stopped, turning theirs heads towards the person.

Naruto saw a girl with dark hair and a red and white outfit, looking like those he had seen in the book old man Hokage showed him when he asked about temples and shrines. Her shoulders weren't covered and next to her, on the ground, was a rod with many paper seals attached to it.

He wondered about the reason she screamed until he got a good look around. The shrine looked like a worn-out battlefield. The ground was littered with holes and even the building itself hadn't been spared from damage, with many holes in the walls.

Naruto looked at the shrine maiden again to notice that her face had darkened. Strangely, her eyes were glowing ominously, as if preparing divine vengeance. A few seconds later, Naruto realized this was exactly what she was going to do. Naruto felt the broom lurch...it seemed like Marisa was trying to sneak away. His eyes darted to the others, and he noticed that the blond witch wasn't the only one.

He tried one desperate attempt to avoid being hurt, since everyone also stopped moving and were quite fearful of her right now.

"Err, sorry?"

It didn't work.

* * *

Ran washed the dishes used from breakfast in silence, recalling how Naruto came home yesterday. Greatly exhausted and looking like someone had mauled him, she only understood "bratty vampire" and "crazy shrine maiden" from what he muttered before he went straight to bed.

When he asked what the training for the day was, she simply told him it was up to him to decide what to do. He was puzzled and asked her what she meant. She told him that he knew what he needed to know, how to fight and how to dodge. She couldn't teach him anything from his worlds since there was no shinobi in Gensokyo. He could only get better by practicing what he already learned.

She also reminded him the importance of spell cards. Without at least one, he couldn't fight and hope to have strong chances of winning against anyone with more power and intelligence than the basic youkais. She also reminded him he needed an answer for tomorrow night, since it would be the last day of the week. He then left, just announcing he would go fly around. And here she was now, washing dishes alone since Chen had gone out to play.

She idly wondered what would be best for Naruto. On one hand, she had to admit there was no reason to remove Naruto from his own world. Yukari admitted she had been bored that day, but that simply wasn't a good enough reason.

On the other hand, Yukari also told her what kind of life he had back there. Even Ran admired the strength of his will for not going insane. If Naruto lived in Gensokyo, he would certainly never have to suffer from being lonely and disliked again.

Still, the final choice was up to him. If he wanted to return, Yukari would do so as she promised. A youkai's word was binding. Ran dropped the matter from her thoughts and finished cleaning the dishes before going outside for her others duties.

* * *

Naruto wandered around aimlessly, not wanting to return to the shrine anytime soon and having been to the city twice. He still had to decide on an answer and he had no idea for a spell card. Sighing, he saw a lake in the distance and went to check it out. Once he reached the edge of the lake, he noticed a mansion in the distance. Curious about who lived that far from the village, he made his way for the mansion. By air, of course.

After taking care of a small group of fairies that attacked him, he took a good look at the mansion. Unlike the two previous mansions that he had seen, this one was a European-style red mansion, surrounded by a wall with a gate at the front. Landing lightly, he walked toward the gate. Someone was standing in front of it.

The girl ("_Geez… Why do I only meet girls here?_") had long scarlet hair with aqua-colored eyes. Her Chinese-looking clothes were green and white and she also had a green beret on her head. She didn't appear to move at all. When Naruto came closer, she turned her head to look at him, but still didn't move.

"Hmm… What's this place?" He asked. He decided he might as well ask where he was first.

The girl looked at him like he was an alien (which he technically was, not being from Gensokyo) for asking that. "This is the Scarlet Devil mansion. Outsiders aren't allowed inside without permission, so refrain from trying to go inside." She answered in an informal tone, deciding to satisfy his curiosity.

"_Scarlet… I'm pretty sure I heard that before._" Naruto thought, having an uneasy feeling associated with the word. Then it hit him. "Is that where that old granny vampire lives?" He asked just to make sure.

The girl looked at him like he was completely crazy. But an image of an aged Remilia passed in her mind and she couldn't help but chuckle a little. She found herself with a knife in her head two seconds later.

Naruto would have normally panicked at that moment, but a knife was an inch away from piercing his foot. A note was attached to it, which he took and read.

_Count yours__e__lf__ lucky the mistress wants to kill you herself..._

Naruto was strangely glad that he had pissed off the old granny enough that she wasn't letting anyone else kill him. Turning his gaze to the door guard, he saw her remove the knife from her head, letting some blood flow from the wound.

"Err… Are you alright?" He asked, not sure. He was disturbed by the way she still acted normally, not even seeming to care much about the blood.

"It's all right. It was only one knife after all." She answered, dropping said bloodied weapon near the gate. Naruto looked at her strangely, not sure about how to react.

"Okay… Who are you anyway?" He asked, curious.

"Hong Meirin, gate guard of the mansion. Whatever anyone else says, I am not called China."

"Huh? Why don't you like being called that?" Naruto asked again, confused.

"Because they never call me by my real name! They always, always call me China." Meirin complained dramatically, false tears pouring from her eyes.

"But… I think it sounds cute on you." He said, still wondering why she hated the nickname.

"Ehh??! Cu-cute!?!?"

The guard reddened quite a bit at that, not seeming to ever have considered that point before. Before Naruto could ask why she was acting embarrassed, a huge beam slammed into the space in front of him, engulfing the girl and destroying the gate. When the laser stopped, all that was left was a smoldering crater with Meirin looking beaten up.

"Hi China! And thanks for the distraction Naruto, ze!"

Naruto raised his head just in time to see Marisa fly by quickly, before she crashed into a window, ignoring the main door. Several seconds later, Naruto heard several explosions coming from within the mansion. He refocused his attention on the downed guard. Said guard could only mutter a word as she sensed him look at her.

"Whyyyy?"

"Errr… I swear I don't know what happened. I never meant to help her." There was another loud crashing sound and Naruto turned his head to see Marisa flee from the mansion with a bag looking full, but he couldn't see what was in it. Someone was still screaming inside, but he could only understand someone getting told to pursue the thief. "I think I better get out of here, right?"

The gatekeeper only nodded pitifully, not muttering a word. Naruto fled quickly, not wanting to enrage someone from the house for something he actually didn't do.

* * *

"You certainly know how to make a first impression, don't you Naruto-kun?" Yukari said, laughing softly.

Naruto had decided to return to Yukari's house, not finding anything better to do. Yukari had woken up by then and she wanted to hear what happened yesterday at the shrine. Naruto complied and told her what happened, thought he exaggerated a little certain details.

"Well, no one is going to get me impressed just by a name. But is she really going to try to kill me as soon as she can?" Naruto asked, being a little worried.

"Of course. Don't you know? You're the first one to call her old." Yukari explained in an obvious manner.

"Then what am I supposed to do then?!" Naruto shouted, panicked.

"There are two things you can do. The first would be to beat her in a duel." Yukari said first.

Naruto paled at that prospect. He was still feeling some of the killing intent Remilia had used on him yesterday. As clueless as some classmates called him sometimes, he knew very well Marisa was the only reason he was alive right now.

"The second way is something you may like… Tell me, do you know what blackmail is?" Yukari asked, smiling in a mischievous manner.

When Naruto returned a similar smile, the two began plotting. Far away, Remilia shuddered, but didn't understand why.

* * *

After waking up in late afternoon, Remilia heard Sakuya's report on the day's event. Apart from that blasted brat being seen at the gate and that black-white witch once again breaking into the mansion to steal books, all was normal.

Remilia would have left to find and obliterate the orange boy, but decided to let him fear his impending doom a little first. Besides, he was probably at Yukari's place at this hour and it would be impossible for her to get him from here. After telling Sakuya to just capture him the next time she saw him, she went to do her usual night routine.

Time passed and morning would come in a few hours. Returning to her room to sleep, followed by her maid, Remilia wondered what was that shudder about earlier. She knew better than to ignore such a sign from fate, but she had no reason to worry at her own house right now.

Reaching the door, both Remilia and Sakuya quickly noticed the door was slightly open. Someone had actually dared to break into the Scarlet Devil's room? She gave a signal to Sakuya.

Nodding, Sakuya took a step forward as a watch appeared in her hand.

Time came to a stop, leaving Sakuya as the only one who could move around and manipulate objects within that pause. Opening the door, she quickly looked around. The luxurious bed was untouched, the wardrobe was closed, and the small table and the chairs were in the same places as before… Nothing was unusual. Glancing up, however, she noticed a bucket, which had been placed to fall as soon as the door would move.

She flew up a little and took the bucket, which was full or water. Returning to the floor, she let time resume its usual course.

"It appears someone actually attempted to prank you, mistress." Sakuya stated, returning to Remilia's side and motioning the bucket.

"How stupid. They could at least make more efforts to conceal it. Find out who it was and kill them." Remilia ordered. Sakuya nodded and vanished.

"_Such a childish attempt… I suppose this is what happens if we let any fairies come in here._" Remilia thought. Well, the culprit would soon serve as an example for the rest. She then opened her wardrobe to change for sleeping.

At least attempt to change. As soon as she opened the doors, a flour bag emptied itself on her, having been stuck here by someone. Blinking, a flash caught her attention to something else that wasn't supposed to be here.

"Eh eh, I told you it would work, Yukari-chan! She never suspected it!" A voice said, sounding both familiar and infuriating to Remilia.

Both Naruto and Yukari were inside a gap in the floor of the wardrope, having only their heads coming out of it. Except that in the case of Yukari, her hands were also out, holding a camera.

"_Wait,_ _a camera!?! Don't tell me they…"_Remilia thought, alarmed.

A quick look at her own self confirmed what she feared. While her hat protected a good part of her hair, the flour made sure to make white everything that wasn't directly under it. She now looked like…

"My, my dear Remilia, is your body trying to catch up to your age?" Yukari joked, not even bothering to cover her laughter.

"Divine Spear: Spear the Gungnir" A lance, much bigger than what Naruto had seen before, appeared in Remilia's hand, quite impressive since the lance itself was much bigger than her.

"Hey granny, are you sure you want to do that?" Naruto taunted, feeling safe since Yukari was here.

He couldn't believe how much fun it had been planning a prank with her. With her powers and his ideas, everybody in Konoha could be a viable target!

Far, far away, Iruka's mind was filled with a vision of Konoha filled with traps and pranks for a brief second. Not knowing where it had come from, he simply dismissed it.

"After all, that picture could so easily find its way into the village or the shrine…" Yukari said, following what Naruto had just said.

Remilia was stunned. If that picture ever went public… She would be the laughingstock of everyone for quite a long time. And she hated being laughed at. So... she simply had to kill them before they fled.

Unfortunately, they had already fled at that point and she only managed to destroy with the spear her wardrobe and the wall behind it.

* * *

Naruto didn't do much afterward. Tired from having to wait for Remilia to return to her room before they could carry out their prank, he went to sleep right after coming back and spent a good part of the day sleeping. When he woke up, he spent the rest of the day in the woods thinking about the decision he had to make.

Dusk arrived and he decided to come back. When he reached the house, he saw Yukari waiting for him outside, wearing a purple dress and her hair tied with many red ribbons. He simply walked in front of her.

"First, before you decide, there is one last thing you need to know about yourself." Yukari stated. Seeing Naruto having a questioning face, she continued. "Back in your world, your village… Do you know why the great majority of people don't like you?"

Naruto gulped, but shook his head. Whenever he asked the old man, or anyone for that matter, he never got an answer. So how and where Yukari did learned this? Still, he would finally get his answer.

"A demon attacked your village around twelve years ago, right? And he was defeated by the current leader at the time, losing his life to save his village. Is that correct?" Yukari asked. When Naruto nodded, but Yukari saw he didn't understand what it had to do with him.

"That is a lie." She simply said.

"What!? Then how… What happened to it then? What happened to the Fourth " Naruto shouted and asked, confused. Konoha was still here, so it had to have been defeated, right?

"Naruto, if a fly bother you and you aren't fast enough to hit it, what do you do with it?" Yukari asked, smiling a little and waiting for Naruto to answer.

"Well, huh... I use something to trap it and leave it here." He answered, confused by the question.

"Exactly. Now think about it. Everything used against that demon was ineffective. As strong as your leader was, do you think he could have defeated it?" Yukari asked, letting her smile broaden a little.

Naruto was wide-eyed at the implication.

"So he… trapped it? But… where do you trap a giant fox? If nothing can stop it…" He wondered. Yukari raised a finger, signaling for him to let her explain.

"Everything that can die is powerless against death. Your Yondaime summoned the Death god of your world and sealed it inside a baby. However, unlike my example, there was a price for that action. For using the power of Death, he had to forfeit is own life." She said.

"Into someone? Then who… was it… Wait, you mean?! But… why?" Naruto said, trailing off into realization and asking for explanations right after.

"He could not make the fox's chakra disappear like that." She started to explain. "If he had sealed it into an adult, the body would never have been able to endure the amount of energy and the chosen would have died before the sealing was complete. The body of a baby adapts itself into his surrounding soon after birth, however. One such baby was born that day…" She trailed off, knowing Naruto knew who it was.

Naruto let himself fall into the ground, slowly letting all the information he learned set still in him.

"Then…" Naruto asked, not even moving his head to look at Yukari. "Why do they hate me?"

"They simply think you are the fox, even if it is false. Many of them lost friends, family and loved ones that day. Since the fox is alive inside you, they simply blame you." She explained to him.

"But now, it is time for you to decide. Will you stay here or will you return to your world?" She asked.

Naruto took a moment to think. After learning about the fox and why he was hated, he was almost certain of his answer.

"If I stay, what would happen?" he asked first. "Would I need to move to the human village or something else?"

"You would not need to go out, Naruto-kun." She said, smiling. "In fact, I would like to ask you if you wanted to join our little family here and taking the Yakumo name. As for the people living here, they would only be a little surprised if they learned about your demon. Nothing more. They live with youkais around them after all." She answered him, smiling.

"I see." Naruto said, nodding. Yukari let herself smile.

"It's nice of you, Yukari-chan, but I need to decline."

Yukari's face went from smiling to open shock. Did she hear him correctly? "_But… What happened, why did he… why?!"_

Seeing that Yukari wasn't responding, Naruto decided to explain.

"It's not that I don't like something here. I'm pretty sure I would be happy if I stayed here." He said. "But I know now that I did nothing to be hated in Konoha. They don't glare at me, but at the fox. So I just need to make them understand I'm not the fox. I know it will be hard, but… I want to work for my happiness. No matter how hard it gets. I did promise to be Hokage after all. If I stayed here… I would always ask myself if I could have realized my dreams back home."

Yukari was still shocked. He… wanted to work to be happy?! He still clung to his dreams of gaining the respect of that place?!

Yukari's plan to get Naruto to stay was good. In fact, one would say it had no reason to fail in the first place. Yet, there was a severe flaw in it that she never considered simply because she couldn't understand it.

The human mind and will is completely unpredictable. Almost completely different from a youkai. Humans could be stupid and stubborn over things meaning a lot for them if it meant they got the result they wanted.

"Well…" Yukari said, attempting to smile and hide her shock, but with little success. "A promise is a promise."

She presented her hand, which Naruto took. Opening a gap, she transported him home.

* * *

"Hey Yukari-chan, will you visit?" He asked, bringing her from her thoughts about what went wrong in her plan. She looked questioningly at him.

"It's just that I'll miss you. I never said I didn't like you." He said, seeing she wasn't going to say anything. Then he got an idea. "Wait, I know. You can show up on graduation day at the Academy! That will be the first step to my dream and I want you to see it."

Yukari looked at him. A little smile appeared on her face.

"Alright" She said. "I'll see you that day."

Letting Naruto out in his bedroom but staying in the gap, she gave him an elegant bow before she raised her hand and the gap Naruto could turn away, a rip in space appeared again. Yukari quickly let him know that she would send his plants tomorrow before the gap sealed itself once again. Naruto looked at the village from the window, silently saying he was back. He then decided to make sure nobody touched his things while he was away.

Opening his bedroom door, he was greatly surprised to see four ANBU snooping around his living room. Of course, when he stepped in, they all turned their heads to see him. Naruto wondered why they all looked at him, not seeing theirs shocked faces behind the masks. All of them wondered how and when he came back and how the heck did they missed him.

"Errr… What are you all doing here?" Naruto asked.

He didn't know that every free ANBU was out looking for him. It was a mystery! Someone had come, took him and his plants, and disappeared without leaving a single trail? The Hokage practically put the village on high alert the day after. The checked every possible entry point into Konoha. They swept every place nook and cranny of the village where chakra could have been used. And the best trackers had been working around the clock to find a single trail. Yet there was still no clue found, except the letter left. Yet even this revealed nothing, since nobody ever heard anything about a person named Yukari.

And now he had returned without alerting the security in place?

It was no wonder one of them actually fainted from the shock.

End Chapter 3

* * *

Author's notes: And that arc is finally over. Next chapter will start the timeline we all know. If any reader was a little lost in Gensokyo, I'm sure they'll be happy to return to familiar places.

If you think the excuse for Naruto to return to Konoha was too weak or stupid... Well... If you have a better idea, feel free to send it.

As always, reviews are appreciated.


	5. Graduation

Author's notes : Yeah, I know. I took way more time than usual. I had school work. I also had problems about writing some parts. But I'll say this. This story will NOT be discontinued, unless something happens to me personally. I'm happy to see that I attract the interests of readers each time I post a new chapter.

I also want to thanks Tama Saga for pointing out the mistakes I make and telling me how certain parts can be better.

Anyway, time to let you read this now.

* * *

Chapter 4: Graduation

For those who lived at least one century, months went fast, especially when nothing unusual happened. For those who lived the longest in Gensokyo, it was like the blink of an eye. The Yakumo family didn't change during the little time that had passed.

At least, that was what Ran wanted to believe.

After the departure of Naruto, Ran couldn't help but notice that her mistress was preparing something. For once, the time she spent sleeping stopped increasing. That little fact was odd for anyone who knew Yukari well.

Sleep was a mean of passing boredom for Yukari. With her powers and all the years she lived, it was no wonder that she didn't lived as actively as one would.

However, sleeping didn't seem to be Yukari's intent right now. She planned. She prepared. She tried strange experiments with her powers. Yukari was preparing herself for something, Ran worried.

Soon, she would return to that village. Yukari's first plan to convince Naruto to live in Gensokyo failed. While she could easily have made no promise and made him stay in Gensokyo whatever his decision was, Gensokyo wasn't a land that forced people to live here unwillingly.

The new plan would take much more effort to accomplish. However, Yukari didn't think it would fail. It couldn't fail.

The day her plan would start was very, very near.

* * *

Sarutobi had hoped, after the Kyuubi's attack, that there wouldn't be many major problems to take care of. Sadly, he didn't realize at the time that Naruto would be such a magnet for trouble.

"_Well… Maybe not trouble." _He thought, reminiscing that night from months ago. After they had finally recovered from their shock, the ANBUs brought Naruto to his office. Then Naruto just grinned and announced that he was back.

After a brief period of questions, Sarutobi made sure that only himself and Naruto were in his office before he asked the recently returned boy about his week. What he got after Naruto was finished was a headache that lasted three days.

His first thought was that Naruto had been drugged or under a heavy genjutsu. But Naruto didn't look like a drugged person or a person under the influence of an illusion. Besides, as imaginative as Naruto was, he knew that he couldn't have created all of what he had told from his mind.

What were the odds of Naruto catching the attention of a de- no, youkai, he caught himself. Naruto had been quite insistent on using the name youkai. He said it didn't sounds as evil as demon. Still, Naruto had the incredible luck of catching the attention of someone who could travel between worlds.

Sadly, unlike Naruto, he didn't fully believe that she did it out of the goodness of her heart. Sarutobi never saw Yukari Yakumo nor did he know the full extent of her power or what she did to pass her days. But he knew that she wanted something from Naruto. He just couldn't pinpoint what. He didn't bother sharing that idea with Naruto. There was no reason to break the boy's image of the de-youkai because of assumptions without proof.

Then he almost got a heart attack when Naruto had asked about the Kyuubi. He was caught off guard even if he thought later that he should have seen it coming. There was a law in the village forbidding people to tell him about the demon, but Yukari had no such problems. He knew that sooner or later he would need to tell the boy, but he never knew just how to do it.

He let Naruto go after extracting a promise from the boy. No one else must know of what happened, for his own safety. Once the boy left the office, he recalled the teams that had been searching for the missing boy. He would have kept all of what happened in his office for himself, but he knew that the trackers and guards had to at least know how one person eluded them all. He just hoped they would take the news well. He also had hoped there wouldn't be anymore surprises.

However, Naruto had told him about how they defended themselves in that world. He had a feeling Naruto had learned about it and that he would use it soon. He made sure to have nothing urgent for the next time Iruka's class would have a sparring practice. He wanted to observe in his crystal ball what Naruto had learned.

He hadn't been disappointed at all.

* * *

_"__Alright__. "__ Iruka announced to the class. __"There is no restriction on what you can use, so long as it doesn't result in a grave injury. __Sasuke and Naruto, you're the firsts to go."_

_Iruka wouldn't have normally made those two fight each other, but he couldn't help but feel Naruto had something different about him. He wanted to see if he would get is answer during a fight. He gave the signal to begin, watching over the match while most of the class cheered on Sasuke._

_Naruto ran __towards Sasuke to try to punch him, something that everyone expected him to do. What they didn't expect was him stopping suddenly with a grin on his face and shooting two strange round bullets towards Sasuke with a motion of the hand. Completely surprised, the Uchiha was hit on the face by the first one then on the stomach by the second. He crumpled to the __ground __and Naruto, with a kunai from his pouch, 'captured' Sasuke, signaling his victory. __All of these events happened in fewer than ten seconds._

_The whole class and Iruka were silent._

* * *

The last Uchiha living in Konoha had been in a grumpy mood for three days after that. The Hokage called Naruto back to his office to discuss what he had used.

Unfortunately, Naruto had told him there was no real way to teach it to someone else. He told him about something he called 'World Laws' that he hadn't entirely understood. Still, he got the fact that he had to travel to Gensokyo to learn how to use it.

Still, he was glad Naruto finally had something only he could use. Capturing an enemy was always more difficult than killing it and what Naruto called 'danmaku' was an effective way to subdue one without accidentally killing it.

Speaking of which, his new ability helped him a little in the Academy. Not much since he still had trouble with everything else, but enough to actually remove the 'dead-last' label he got from his grades.

It wasn't entirely because of danmaku either. It seemed Naruto finally got tired of his failing grades and decided to actually try to be a better student.

'Try' being the key word. As much as Naruto wanted to be better, he still didn't have the patience for long and boring lectures on history or ways to face a situation. He also had the worst chakra control of the group, despite his best efforts. Iruka helped him as much as he could, happy that Naruto finally took the Academy seriously, but there was only so much he could do.

Another thing that changed in Naruto was the way he walked on the street. He mostly kept to himself, but he still heard the whispers and sensed the glares of the villagers. Before, he struggled to keep the smile on his face.

Now, he still smiled. However, he had no trouble smiling, unlike before. This was noticed by the villagers, who were confused by his attitude. Some had actually the guts to think he finally found a way to kill them all, but Sarutobi quickly crushed those rumors. Still, he was curious himself and asked Naruto about it.

"Why should I fell down? It's not me they hate, it's the fox." Naruto had said, smiling.

That… made sense. Now that Naruto knew about his burden, he had no reason to think he or his parents did something awful. Still, the Hokage didn't thought Naruto would think of it that way.

Then again, if you lived mostly alone for so many years, you would have a lot of time to think.

And now, it was finally the day to see if Naruto's efforts paid off. Naruto himself was nervous about it. Nervous enough to make his most outraging prank to date, anyway. Painting the Hokage monument would certainly offend many people, but one had to wonder how he managed to paint all four faces before some ninjas tried to catch him.

And he would finally have the chance to see who this Yakumo Yukari.

* * *

Life was unfair, Naruto decided.

In the end, the final exam came down to see if you could control chakra well enough to not kill yourself by using too much and to not lose control of it when you were performing a jutsu.

Naruto failed that test. Thus, he failed the final exam.

Why did it have to be the Bunshin anyway? He could to the other two basic jutsus, but it was for nothing apparently. How could he actually face Yukari today now?

Still grumbling, he didn't notice someone approaching him from behind.

"Hey Naruto." The person said.

Naruto turned to see who was talking to him.

"Mizuki-sensei? What are you doing here?" He asked, curious.

"I just want to talk. Do you have a minute?" Mizuki asked.

Naruto nodded and they both went to a balcony to talk privately. Naruto waited for Mizuki to talk first.

"You know, Iruka is strict with the rules. Even if he want to see you pass, the last thing he would want to do would be to make you pass unprepared for the job." He said, trying to soothe any anger he had directed at Iruka.

Naruto sighed. As much as he hated to admit it, it made sense. He didn't want to be killed either because he was not prepared.

"Still, why the heck is Bunshin so important anyway? Will it helps that much?" He asked, still a little angry.

Mizuki actually pondered about it. The Bunshin jutsu was actually rarely used on the field, ninjas preferring to use Kawarimi instead.

"Well, you know, if you want to pass that much, there is another way…" he said, preferring to not answer the question.

Once he saw he had all of Naruto's attention, he started to explain.

* * *

Of course, Yukari certainly hadn't forgotten that it was the day. Observing the professor and Naruto, she decided to not appear right now.

She already guessed that stealing something with the name 'forbidden' in it wasn't exactly a way to be a ninja. She also felt that the man also seemed to have a dark plan in his mind.

But she wouldn't act on it. If she was lucky enough, Naruto would be in deep trouble and unable to become a ninja. Then, she would appear and offers him to live in Gensokyo again. With his dream broken, he would accept and she wouldn't need to use her plan.

Still, she felt a little bad about it. If that happened, Naruto would be down for quite some time. Naruto's smile could help cheer the general mood of the people around him, but the reverse was also true. She would hate to be down because he was down and not having done anything to prevent it.

In the end, she didn't change her decision. Closing the gap she used to spy on them, she prepared herself for what would happen this night.

* * *

Naruto was now feeling the opposite of how he was earlier in the day. Not only he was able to learn a strong jutsu, he finally had created his first spell card!

While he had an idea of what he wanted to do, he was unable to create familiars. With no one able to tell him how to create them, he had put to idea on hold. But now, he had something else to do the same job.

Closing the scroll and getting up, he put the card he just created in his pocket and was surprised to see Iruka appearing before him just after.

"Naruto, what the heck are you doing with that scroll?" He asked furiously, but still happy to have found him before the others.

"Mizuki told me that if I learned something from the scroll, that you would pass me." Naruto answered, putting his hand in a seal to show what he learned.

Iruka was surprised to see that Naruto had actually learned a jutsu from the scroll, but he didn't miss the fact that it was Mizuki who told him about it. Sensing a sudden burst of killing intent, he pushed Naruto away from the barrage of kunais sent at the spot they were. However, he didn't have the time to dodge them himself. Fortunately, his vital spots weren't hurt.

"Thanks for finding for me Iruka. Now you can go away." A voice said. Iruka knew who it was and Naruto recognized the voice.

Mizuki appeared on a branch with two large shurikens on his back.

"Naruto, give me the scroll would you?" He told Naruto. Iruka started to protest soon after, telling Naruto to do the opposite of what Mizuki had said.

"What the… What is going on?!" Naruto asked, confused. Why did Mizuki attack Iruka?

"Give me the scroll. It's not like you have a reason to do what he say anyway. I'll tell you a secret about you." Mizuki said. Naruto was confused, but Iruka started shouting angrily, knowing what Mizuki was saying. "You do know that a demon was defeated twelve years ago, right? That day, all adults were sworn to not tell anything about what truly happened."

Seeing that Naruto was silent and Iruka was still telling him to stop, he continued. "That day, the Kyuubi wasn't really defeated. He was sealed in a newborn baby. That baby was you, Naruto. You are the Kyuubi! You are the one who murdered everyone that day! And that includes Iruka's parents, who probably hate you too!" He finished, shouting his hate at the same time. Iruka was trying to tell Naruto it wasn't true while Naruto just stood here. Mizuki still stood where he was, grinning.

"What the heck? You mean there are ninjas stupid enough to think that?! How the heck did you become a teacher?" Naruto shouted.

Mizuki almost fell from the branch he was on, Iruka only stood where he was gaping like a fish out of water and the Hokage, observing the scene in his crystal ball, simply sweatdropped. Perhaps it would have been wise to mention to the others that Naruto knew about his burden…

"What are you saying? You are the fox!"

"No I'm not! It's behind a seal!"

"Of course! Your body is the seal, trapping you in it!"

"What are you saying? Do you even know how seals work?"

"Enough to know that you can't escape death this time, fox bastard!"

"Geez, if I was a crazy fox, why would I bother going to school?"

"To fool others while you prepared your plan of course!"

"Why would I bother with a plan if I was as strong as you said?"

Iruka and the Hokage both sweatdropped as a would-be ninja and an actual ninja bickered like little children.

"Enough of that! Just die!" Mizuki shouted, finally having enough of it. He threw one of the shurikens he had with as much strength as he could. Naruto only stared helplessly, not thinking to dodge it. However, he was pushed on his back by Iruka. The shuriken hit his back, but Iruka managed to hold himself above Naruto.

"Why… Why did you do that?" Naruto asked Iruka, shocked by what he did.

"I… I don't know how you learned about it, but I never… I never hated you." He said, coughing a little while he talked. "And I was certainly not going to let one of my students be killed."

"How cute. I'll do you a favor and kill you both at the same time."

Naruto got himself up and stood up to face Mizuki despite Iruka telling him to run away.

"You bastard… Hurt Iruka any more and I'll kill you!" he shouted angrily.

"Oh? Then what will you do?" Mizuki taunted, clearly not afraid of Naruto's threat.

Naruto put his hand in a seal, but stopped himself. He already knew it worked and he had something he wanted to test. Grinning savagely, he took out a card, confusing both Iruka and Mizuki. However, he looked at Iruka, unsure that he was safe here. He certainly didn't want to hurt him even more than he was.

"Don't worry about him Naruto. I'll make sure he's not hit." A new voice said. All three present turned to see a woman with long blonde hair wearing a deep purple dress and carrying a pink parasol.

Iruka privately thought that her outfit stood out even more than Naruto's orange jumpsuit, if it was even possible.

Of course, Naruto recognized her at once. "Yukari-chan! What are you doing here?" Naruto asked, curious. Iruka was confused, wondering where and when Naruto meet that woman. Mizuki said nothing, grabbing his second shuriken on his back.

"You didn't think I forgot you, didn't you? I simply waited her, but I saw you could use a hand. How about showing me your first spell card now?" Yukari said with a smile, moving next to Iruka. She opened a gap, surprising the two older ninjas present, and sat on it, waiting for Naruto's performance. Naruto grinned he turned back to Mizuki. Mizuki prepared himself to move, knowing about the abilities Naruto gained.

"I'll defeat you, bastard. Ninja Sign 'Kage Bunshin no Jutsu'!" He shouted.

The card he held burned and a magic circle appeared around Naruto, with him being at the center of it. Iruka, dumbfounded, noticed that the circle had at his center the same swirl that Naruto had on his jumpsuit. Naruto formed the ram seal swirl and bunshins appeared around. The clones simply grinned before bursting into smoke, each releasing a ring of bright bullets all around them.

Mizuki, not expecting this, jumped away from a bullet only to be hit by another coming from his side. He was soon pummeled by bullets from everywhere. On his side, Naruto didn't stopped creating clones. He created a clone for each clone bursting. He also made sure to create them at various locations in the place. There were literally bullets being sent everywhere.

Iruka, on his side, saw some of the bullets headed towards him, but a gap opened and absorbed them before closing. Looking at his side, he saw the woman, Yukari, looking with rapt attention at the scene before her. Iruka, not fearing any other attack anymore, turned his head back to the fight.

After a minute, Naruto stopped the barrage and cancelled the spell card. He looked satisfied when his gaze found Mizuki, looking thoroughly beat up and unconscious.

Iruka was impressed, to say the least. Not only it seemed Naruto mastered the Kage Bunshin, he combined it with his ability to shoot bullets to create something even more devastating. To top it all, he didn't even looked exhausted at all!

"Eh eh… That's what you deserved!" Naruto shouted, satisfied.

A light clapping was heard. Naruto turned his head to see it was coming from Yukari. She stood up and approached him.

"Well done Naruto. That was magnificent" She said.

Naruto grinned and Yukari smiled back. The silence that followed that moment would have lasted a bit longer if Iruka hadn't coughed, trying to stand up on his own but having much trouble doing so.

"Aahh! Iruka-sensei! Are you all right?" Naruto shouted, immediately running to him. How could he have almost forgotten him?

"I don't think I'm dying, but I'm going to stay at the hospital tonight." He said, trying to reassure the yellow-haired boy. "I don't know what that was, but I think I have something that I can give you now. Close your eyes for a second."

Naruto did so. He felt Iruka removing his goggles then tying something on his forehead.

"You can open them now." Iruka said, smiling.

Naruto did so. He found his goggle son the ground and a leaf headband on his head.

"Congratulations. You graduated." Iruka said cheerfully.

A few seconds passed, Naruto letting Iruka's words sink in his head. When he finally started moving again, he cried in joy and leaped in his teacher's arms. Iruka smiled, happy and proud that Naruto finally graduated.

Both of them never saw Yukari frowning at Iruka's announcement.

* * *

The Hokage was looking at the village from the window of his office. He had just come back from outside, giving orders to recall the search party and confirm the recovery of the scroll. He also ordered two ANBU ninjas to get the unconscious traitor. He only had one last thing to take care of before retiring for the night.

"So, what do you want?" He asked, still facing the window.

Yukari, who had just appeared into the office from a gap, simply smirked a little before sitting down on the still opened gap. "_This human is old_", she thought, _«but__ he still has the senses from his younger days__. Good for him_"

"Well, that depends on you." She said, still smirking. "I'm pretty sure you have a few questions for me."

That was quite the understatement. Naruto's tale had awakened the curiosity he had from his younger days, when he wanted to know as many jutsus as possible, but not for the same reasons as Orochimaru. Still, he had more important things to ask first. He took his seat and faced Yukari.

"Well, first things first. Why are you here?" He asked. He knew that she was here for a reason.

"To adopt Uzumaki Naruto." She said as if it was it was something plain. As the Hokage's eyes narrowed, she put a hand on her cheek and looked up, as if a sudden thought appeared in her mind. Then she smirked again.

"Oh, I made an error. I meant Naruto Uzumaki Yakumo of course." She said.

"And when did he agree to be adopted?" The Hokage asked, frowning. He felt he already knew the answer, but he had to make sure.

"Oh, simply earlier in his apartment when you were too busy outside to spy on us." She answered. The Hokage frowned again, but he did not show any reaction of surprise from having one of his secret revealed.

"Why did he agree? I had the idea he refused the first time." He asked, not letting any emotion in his voice. He knew she wanted Naruto, but he still had no idea why. H just hoped it wouldn't have anything to do with the Kyuubi.

"Oh, that? It was simply because he wanted to come back here, as strange as it sounds. But now he's not forced to stay anywhere." She said, smiling in confidence. She hoped he caught on what she just said.

"Anywhere, you say?" He asked next, raising an eyebrow in curiosity.

"Exactly."

"And what do you mean by that?"

"Simply that he's free to travel between here and Gensokyo." She explained.

"And why would you permit that?" Sarutobi asked. He doubted the innocence of that gift to Naruto.

"My, you talk like I had my own agenda. Naruto did make some friends that would like to see him again. And if something happened here, he now knows there is a place that will always be here for him." She said, still smirking since the start of this conversation.

Of course, the Hokage didn't miss what she implied. If Naruto's dreams were crushed or something just as strong happened to him, he would leave Konoha and never returns.

"_So you want him to live in Gensokyo… But what for?" _He thought.

"How will he travel freely between the two places?" He asked. "Naruto seemed to think you loved to sleep. I doubt that habit changed all of a sudden."

"I simply opened a gap for him so that _Naruto _can use it when he wants" She said, making sure to single out the name. As fun as it would be to see her traps tested, she judged better to at least give a warning to anyone other than Naruto trying to get in Gensokyo.

I see…" Sarutobi said, recognizing and acknowledging the warning.

A gap opened next to her and she stuck her hand in, taking out some papers. "Here are the adoption papers. I don't really care and I doubt Naruto would either, but I suppose it should be made official, right? The only thing missing is your approval. But I'm sure it won't be a problem."

Sarutobi knew she already got him. If he said yes, she would get what she wanted. If he said no, he would have to face Naruto and explain why he refused. And like she said, she didn't care if it was official or not. He would only lose a part of Naruto's trust if he refused.

"One last thing" He said, taking the papers. "Why are you doing this?"

"Why? You sound like I have dark plans for him. Are you telling me that what I am doing is not right?" She said, answering his question with another question.

The first thing he wanted to say was yes, she was. Trying to remove him from his birthplace, trying to remove any feeling of attachment he could still have for his real parents by replacing them…

However, it would be impossible right now to say Naruto's life would be better here. He had a dark and difficult childhood and what would follow had great chances to be as hard.

"I don't care for the demon." She said, continuing what she was saying. "I simply find Naruto interesting enough to try to give him a better life. I simply want to give him what I can offer him. And you can't say I'm doing something wrong."

The gap she was sitting on enlarged and she let herself fall backward in it. The gap closed and the Hokage was left alone in his office.

Then, just as suddenly as she has left, another gap opened and she showed herself again.

"Ah yes. I forgot to tell you Naruto is at my house this night. If you want to talk to him, it will have to wait until tomorrow."

"Expect this place to see me a lot until I have no reasons to return." She added.

She disappeared again. Before the gap closed, however, Sarutobi heard her laugh.

Yukari wanted to get Naruto to stay in Gensokyo. She was already winning in that regard and there was nothing he could do to stop her.

* * *

Naruto was happy to see Ran and Chen again and they as well. For the first time since that fateful week, he had a place that he could call home that would have people waiting for him in it. He told them he finally created his first spell card.

When Ran told him he could now duel someone else in danmaku, he immediately wanted to duel Chen first, wanting to show how strong his card was. Chen accepted, also curious to see his spell card.

Naruto was over-confident however. Everything happening this night had changed what would have been the worst day of his life into his best one. Ran noticed the self-confidence Naruto had, but said nothing. Chen would bring him back to reality.

And she did. While Naruto's spell card succeeded at creating many bullets, it was far from impossible to avoid them, especially while flying and while Ran was near, which was boosting her powers.

Still, Naruto was happy. However, as much as he wanted to see the others he knew the next day, he had to be in Konoha to fill his profile for the records.

While Naruto was busy filling the papers, having his picture taken, taking his profile to the Hokage and subsequently meeting Konohamaru, which would end up with Konohamaru getting a new role model, Yukari was observing the village from a rooftop waiting for something.

She disliked it. It appeared dull and the humans here were apparently blind about the only one she cared about here. Nothing eventful happened and they wished for it to remain. Still, she would have to be here more often than she would have preferred if she wanted her plan to succeed.

Then again, even she had to admit you had to be a real bastard to hate the people working at Naruto's favorite place in Konoha, Ichiraku Ramen. It was just _wrong_ to dislike those two. The food was good and the atmosphere cheerful. They were kind and friendly, happy with what they had. They never took advantage of Naruto, even at the time he would have latched on anyone if they were simply nice enough to him.

Turning her head to a gap she opened next to her, she noticed the meeting she was spying on was about to reach the point she was interested in. She closed the gap with a wave of her hand.

"_Well, time to crash that meeting._" She thought, opening a larger gap and going inside.

* * *

Sarutobi should have expected it. The adoption of Naruto Uzumaki... Yakumo had not gone unnoticed. But the person adopting him surprised them more than the fact that someone adopted the village pariah. The news travelled fast and Sarutobi had no choice but to have an unofficial meeting with those who wanted answers.

They wanted to know why he let a potential threat to Konoha adopt someone as important as Naruto. What if she turned him against us? What if she made him unleash the demon once again on Konoha? And why did he permit it with the full knowledge that Yukari wasn't even living in Konoha?

Some of those who knew about her power, the ninjas who had wanted an answer as to how could someone completely avoid all the security and leave no trail, proposed to have her work for Konoha then. To have her do something so that she would earn the adoption.

Frankly, Sarutobi didn't know what to say. He doubted that saying she didn't really care would be a satisfying answer. Furthermore, he knew from that meeting yesterday that Yukari would never do anything for Konoha, as long as it didn't have anything to do with Naruto himself. He doubted they would believe were she was from either, since he made sure the knowledge of another was highly classified.

He wondered if Yukari expected it. Annoying the whole village could make them resent Naruto even more than before. He wanted Naruto to be happy, but he didn't trust Yukari. She had made her goal clear right from the start. Besides, he knew Naruto could rise to be a great ninja if he worked hard on it. Yukari, however, was changing his life and potentially his goal. It was very subtle, considering Naruto would still be happy if she had her way, but it was still manipulation.

Deciding he had no choice but to tell the truth about her lack of interest, he was about to talk when he noticed a hole opening in the air above him. Yukari appeared from it soon after, enticing gasps from a good part of the people here.

Inwardly, he groaned. He knew for sure now that she had anticipated it and that she prepared for it. He couldn't do anything now but to watch the fireworks.

"Since you are all talking about me, I figured I would drop by." She announced with a smile, as if she was doing them a favor.

Two things could have happened from here. Either everyone would stay silent or the room would have been filled with shouts coming from almost everyone, being either insults or questions or comments.

In that case, the room was silent. Maybe it was because nobody had any idea what question to ask her. Maybe it was because she was very different from what they imagined her to be. Maybe because their attention was on the strange gap she was coming out from.

Or maybe it was because behind that smiling face, they sensed the raw power she had and could use.

Finally, one of them gathered his courage and asked one question.

"Why did you adopt -him-?" He said, emphasizing the fact that she chose Naruto.

Yukari briefly wondered if she really wanted to answer the foolish questions they would ask. Still, she had something important to make them understand, so she had to go with it for now.

"Because I wanted to. Isn't that good enough for you?" She answered, sounding annoyed at the question.

"Do you really expect us to believe it's the only reason?" He asked next, angered that she took this place so lightly.

"Maybe. But I will keep the rest of them to myself." She said.

That answer filled the meeting room with cacophony. Shouts of outrage and insults were all aimed at Yukari, but she acted as if she didn't hear them. The Hokage, seeing that it was doing no effect, had to ask for silence. Once they were calm, he didn't do anything else, letting them ask the questions. Hyuuga Hiashi, who was concerned about the village's safety, took the invitation.

"Where do you think you are? We demand answers from you." He asked menacingly.

"Who will make me answer then?" She asked daringly, in a mocking manner.

The room was silent, not expecting that answer. Did that woman really just said that she could take them on? Surely her strange power was special and warranted caution, but it certainly didn't make her invincible.

Hiashi let his bloodline activate and sent killer intent towards the woman. If diplomacy wasn't going to work, he thought, intimidation would have to do. He saw her open another one of her strange hole out of thin air and put her hand inside. Was she taking a weapon?

He got his answer three second later, falling to his knee and grasping his chest were his heart was in pain. Those near him took a step back, wondering what had happened to him. Just now, he felt something painful on it, he was sure of it. But what could-

"My my, the humans are so fragile inside, don't you agree? All I did was caressing it a bit." Yukari said, taking her hand out of the gap. The glove on her hand had blood marks on it.

Hiashi wasn't stupid. He put two and two together and came to a conclusion he didn't really want to believe.

"How… How did you…" He asked, still feeling some pain.

He also had no choice but to agree with her on her statement on fragility. His clan took advantage of the fact that you couldn't protect the chakra coils inside your body if you were hit, no matter how strong you were. The medics also used that tactic in battle to attack the organs and easily disabling an opponent for either capture or elimination. It was simple, yet painful and had sent more than one shinobi to an early retirement.

"For me, the youkai of boundaries, it was simple. Just opening the border between here and your heart, and _tada!_ Rather effective, isn't it?"

Some of the more simple-minded persons present were confused by that statement. Others, like Nara Shikaku, were trying to analyze what she said. Still, everyone had caught the word "youkai". However, before they could even act on that information, she was already saying something else.

"Of course, if you tried to attack or hurt Naruto in any way or form to try to get to me, I will simply warn you that you will not live to regret it." She announced, before leaving through the gate she was in.

Sarutobi was confused by that last announcement. Wasn't it her goal to get Naruto to leave Konoha? He thought that by the end of the day, Naruto would have been hated for attracting non-humans to Konoha and that Yukari would take that opportunity to lure him to her world. But now, he just didn't know what to think.

Still, one thing at a time. He had to conclude this meeting first.

* * *

"Isn't that rather out of character from you, Yukari?" Yuyuko asked, drinking her tea.

Naruto wanted to see everyone he had met before in Gensokyo and Yukari knew Yuyuko liked the boy. Both Yukari and Yuyuko were watching Youmu and Naruto fight while they discussed, the latter wanting to show off his spell card again. Youmu was on the defensive for a while, getting used to the rhythm before going on the offensive, using her speed to surprise and hit Naruto, breaking the spell. She then lectured him on his faults, mainly the chaotic and non-controlled pace of his spell card and he listened, aware that he was still low in the ladder of strength in Gensokyo. Then they went at it again.

"Maybe, but I do think he is well-worth the effort, don't you agree?" Yukari answered. She watched Naruto trying to avoid the bullets Youmu sent while controlling the number of clones he created at a time.

"If you say so. However, remember that not all humans you ignore or dismiss are worthless." Yuyuko answered, trying to redeem humans them a little in her friend's eyes. After all, considering she ruled a land were humans souls rested, she was more than knowledgeable about what they could do if they put their hearts in a goal they really wanted. And she also had been human once.

"Then I will take you word for it." Yukari said, accepting Yuyuko's warning. She watched the half-ghost girl and the foxy-looking boy landing, having stopped training. Naruto was sweating and breathing heavily, but Youmu wasn't even looking fazed at all.

"My, already tired Naruto? You'll have to work on your stamina." Yukari said, aware of Naruto's practically legendary stamina on his world. However, using both chakra for his clones and spiritual energy for the bullets drained a lot out of him.

"I'll… get better… Just watch me!" Naruto announced, still panting.

"Of course. I expect nothing less from you." She said, confident that he would. "Are you ready for tomorrow? It will be your first day as a ninja after all."

Naruto nodded, sitting down. Youmu also sat down, having no other duty to perform right now.

"Before I forget, however, I need to inform you of something concerning the seal holding your prisoner." Yukari added. Naruto was surprised of the subject she brought, Yuyuko said nothing, having already been told by Yukari about the Kyuubi and Youmu looked curious, but said nothing.

"What about it? Is there something wrong with it?" Naruto asked.

"Yes and no, depending on your point of view. There is no problem with it basically, considering it is a shinigami seal. However, it was human who used the technique. There may be times where it could leak or weaken."

"Err… What would happen then? It won't get out, right?" Naruto asked, a little nervous.

"It depends. You know what a floodgate is, right?" She asked. When Naruto nodded, she continued. "Water will leak if a hole is created in it. It will affect things, but it can be repaired in time and things will return to normal. In your case, the fox's power will leak. Considering the demonic nature of it, it will affect your behavior if you can't keep control."

She took a pause, letting Naruto take in the information. When he nodded in understanding, she continued. "However, if there's too much leaking or if the hole isn't closed, everything will break apart. And for you, that would mean your death and the return of the Kyuubi."

Naruto and Youmu both gasped at this. Yuyuko said nothing, knowing her friend wasn't finished.

"But…but… What can I do? I can't let it get out!" Naruto said, panicking over Yukari's explanation.

"Calm down. That is only if you aren't careful. Besides, I don't want you to do die either." She said. Naruto said nothing, but still looked unsure.

"May I ask why you told him this, lady Yukari? Was there any point in this explanation?" Youmu asked, wondering about the reasons that prompted her to explain something that he had little control of.

"Of course there is. After gathering some information, I learned of a way to make the seal stronger." Yukari answered.

Naruto was puzzled. Was there really a way? The Fourth had sacrificed his life to create it after all. What could possibly make it stronger?

"I won't go in details however the way, since it isn't important. Also, it isn't really changing the seal, but adding a new one. However, there will be consequences if you decide to get it."

"Consequences? What could be so bad about it?" Naruto asked.

"Your chakra and Kyuubi's chakra are completely different. They always fight each other even with the seal. One of the prices for it would be your poor control over your own chakra, since it is always moving. The seal is what makes sure the two types are separated, but tiny bits of the fox power are always leaking out. It isn't enough to cause the problems I said earlier, but enough to cause you problems." She explained.

"The new seal would change it all. It would make both types of chakra accept and works with each others, which would lighten the work of the first seal. Not only that, the fox's power would actually work to also keep him in his cage, which would eliminate the whole problem of him leaking out."

"But that's great! Why did you talk as if there was any problem with it?" Naruto said, happy. You nodded at what Naruto said, failing to see the problem.

"Naruto." Yukari said, a bit darkly. "I never said that the demonic chakra would be filtered of its nature."

"And…?" Naruto said, still not understanding. Youmu opened her mouth in realization, but said nothing. Yuyuko still had no reaction.

"Simply put, because your body would accept that kind of power, you would become a half-youkai." Yukari said. A moment of silence passed as Naruto took in that information.

"Oooh..." Naruto simply said, thinking it was all. "But what would that change? Will I get a tail or something?"

Yukari wanted to smack herself, or him at least. Naruto could be so dense sometimes.

"No you won't. Your body is too old for additions like that. However, you should be stronger and have more control over your powers with that change."

"But isn't that a good thing?" Naruto asked.

"While I don't care much about, your life expectancy will be raised a lot. That is the main problem."

"By how much?" Naruto asked, curious

"I don't know. It could be five hundred years as it could be a thousand or only two hundred. However, if you think about the fact that Kyuubi is an elder demon, it could very well be more than a thousand."

Naruto said nothing, thinking about it. A part of him shouted in joy, thinking of all the time he had to become Hokage and how long he would then remain Hokage. Another part wondered how life would be if he outlived everyone he knew.

"Buut!" Yukari said, he tone changing suddenly into a more jovial one. "That's only if you want it. Besides, nothing has happened so far that warrants the need to use that seal, right?"

Yukari's outburst snapped Naruto out of his thoughts as he heard her speak. He simply nodded, still thinking bout the problem.

Yukari was wondering what Naruto was thinking. As one with a life as long as she had, she couldn't even try to understand what a human would think of a prolonged life. Actually, she would be happy if Naruto could live longer. However, Mokou, the immortal human living in Gensokyo, was a living proof that immortality could be far from a blessing. While Naruto would not become immortal, he could face the same problems that she had.

"You should rest for tomorrow now. You do have a rather big day coming, right?" Yukari said, putting the topic to a close.

Naruto nodded, thinking now about his first day. He was going to show Konoha tomorrow who was the best ninja in town!

End Chapter 4

* * *

Author's notes : I suppose I should have found a better spot to end this chapter, but this one seemed nice. Now I wonder you you are going to react to that last part.

You probably know what are the story arcs in the future. Before anyone start screaming Super-Naruto, I'll point outright now that there will be some changes to certain part and Naruto will not kick everyone's butt easily. The only over-powered characters are the Touhou characters. Anyone knowing Touhou knows why.

As always, reviews, comments and suggestions are appreciated.


	6. Team 7

Author's notes: I finally managed to find time to complete this chapter.I had trouble to write when I couldn't help but think of school work when working on this.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto and I don't own Touhou.

* * *

Chapter 5: Team 7

"Sakura Haruno… Naruto Uzumaki Yakumo… and…Sasuke Uchiha."

Ignoring the shout of happiness from Naruto that came after the second name, then his heavy sigh at the last name of the team, the class was mostly puzzled. Since when did Naruto acquire a third name? Sakura almost missed the announcement of Sasuke in team seven. Even Sasuke raised an eyebrow.

Iruka knew what happened of course. The rumors never reached the children and the parents hadn't told anything about the strange woman. He had been at the meeting, worried for Naruto's well-being. Still, he could tell she wasn't here to harm Naruto. Only one thing had resulted from that meeting, a rule that wasn't even centered around Naruto, but on Yukari.

Do NOT anger her.

She had demonstrated what she could do and no one else wanted to feel the kind of pain Hiashi had felt at that time. While Iruka wasn't in favor of the fear tactic she had used, he couldn't help but admit that it had worked very well in her favor.

Iruka finished announcing the teams before letting them go on a break. It was no use worrying about it anyway.

* * *

"Erm… Naruto, can I ask you something?"

Naruto turned his head from his meal, looking at Sakura who had asked the question.

Naturally, it hadn't taken long before many of the girls grouped together to ask if anyone knew of a Yakumo family. Nobody had an answer and they decided to choose someone to go ask him about the name. Since Sakura was in the same team as her, it didn't take long for her to get elected to do the task. Sakura was now doing just that, while others were hidden in places within earshot.

"Of course Sakura-chan! What is it?" Naruto asked in a jovial tone. Maybe she finally saw how cool he was and wanted to go out with him!

But… did he still want to go out with her? She was pretty of course. Still, after meeting others girls in Gensokyo that were as strong as pretty, he couldn't help but notice that he found Sakura a little bit duller than them. Just a little bit.

"Well, what's your new name? It isn't something you just created, right?" Sakura asked. Even Naruto never joked about his name after all. He was proud of it and all his announcements that he, Naruto Uzumaki, would be the next Hokage, pretty much confirmed it.

"Ah, that? I finally have a family! So I took the Yakumo name. It's great, right!" Naruto proudly announced. Nobody would dare say no one cared for him now!

Sakura only responded with a smile and a nod before saying goodbye. She reasoned that he had the right to be happy about it after all. She didn't know what she would do herself if she hadn't had her parents to help her.

Still, she wondered about some things. Not that she wished him something really bad, but what kind of person actually adopted him. His reputation wasn't great in Konoha and anyone could see he was used to living alone before. That person clearly had to have made a strong impression on Naruto if he was so happy about it.

Forgetting about him, she decided to hunt her Sasuke-kun. Now that they were on the same team, she had a great reason to spend time near him! Take that Ino-pig!

* * *

Two and a half hours later, Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura were on the rooftop, facing their jounin-sensei who didn't looked ashamed at all for being so late.

"Well, let's begin with some introductions, shall we?" He said, ignoring the glares they were giving him.

"What do you want to know?" Sakura asked.

"Just things like your likes and dislikes, your dreams for the future, your hobbies and stuff like that." He said lazily, not really interested in knowing anyway.

"Why don't you go first then?" Naruto asked, still a little angry. "We don't even know who you are."

"Me? I'm Kakashi Hatake. My likes and dislikes are none of your business, I don't really have plans for the future and I have a lot of hobbies." He said. "How about we go from my right for you?" he added.

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki Yakumo. I like ramen and my family." He said first, completely missing the twitch in Sasuke's eye at the last word." I dislike the three minutes wait for cooking the ramen. My dream is to become better than Hokage and have the village recognize my existence."

"_Interesting considering his childhood…_" Kakashi thought.

"Oh, and my hobbies are pranks and thinking of danmaku patterns." He added after a thought.

Kakashi raised an eyebrow at that but it was Sasuke who beat him to the question.

"What's danmaku dobe?" He said, making Naruto turn his head angrily. But three seconds later, his face turned into a grin as he took something out of his pocket.

" Ah! Don't tell me you forgot how I humiliated you before. I got better at it and I can whoop your ass with just this!" He said, showing the card he held for all to see.

Sasuke twitched again, remembering that humiliating defeat. Sakura and Kakashi both wondered how a card could help him.

"Anyway, let's continue with the introductions. I'm sure you didn't want to stay here all day." He said, ignoring the glares once again turned on him. He was the reason they had to stay here!

"I'm Sasuke Uchiha. I don't really like anything, I dislike a lot of things, like laziness or lateness" He first said, making Kakashi chuckle a little. Seeing it didn't have the intended effect, Sasuke continued.

"I have some sort of dream, but I would rather call it an ambition. To restore my clan and to kill a certain man." He said, not caring about their reactions.

"_Why am I not surprised?_" Kakashi thought. "Alright, your turn now girl."

"I'm Sakura Haruno. I like… My dream is to… I dislike Naruto and my hobbies are…" She said, stealing glances at Sasuke all the while. Oddly enough, Naruto didn't look as depressed as she expected him to. Maybe the gods smiled upon on her and made Naruto stop going after her?

"_So I have an idiot turned into a question mark, an avenger and a love struck girl. Why did I agree to teach again?" _Kakashi thought, a little depressed over his team. "_But maybe I won't have to teach them after all." _He added in his mind before telling them about the test.

* * *

"Do you think we should have expected it?" Naruto asked to Sakura and Sasuke. Both silently agreed with him.

All three of them were at the training grounds at the time Kakashi specified. Of course, there was one person late to the test. One hour and a half had passed and there was still no sign of Kakashi.

"You would think he would come in time to his own test." Sakura said, annoyed. "Do you think we could as- What the hell is that!"

Both Sasuke and Naruto turned to see what she was speaking about, but only the latter recognized what it was. A hole filled with eyes had opened in the hair and someone was coming out of it.

Staying in the gap she opened, Yukari greeted Naruto, who greeted her back. Both Sakura and Sasuke had no idea who she was and how Naruto knew her.

"Err… Naruto, who is she?" Sakura asked, timidly.

"Eh? Oh, that Yukari Yakumo! She's the one who adopted me!" Naruto said, presenting her with a smile.

Yukari had also turned on them. However, the way she looked at them was far colder than the way Naruto looked at them. She looked at Sakura and Sasuke, while they presented themselves, like she was evaluating them. Sakura, felt uneasy, Sasuke was clearly irritated at the way she looked down on him and Naruto was the only one who seemed to miss the look on Yukari's face.

"What is that hole?" Sasuke asked, trying miserably to hide his irritation and looking at the gap where Yukari came from.

"Oh, that? This is simply a gap I opened to come here." Yukari answered.

"But… How can you open a gap here if you weren't anywhere close?" Sakura asked, feeling curious.

"This is simply a subtle manipulation of the boundary between me and Naruto." Yukari explained.

"A boundary? Where?" Sakura asked, confused.

"My my, must I explain everything? Can you tell me what the definition of a boundary is?"

"It's the separation between… Ahh!"

"Finally! I was starting to wonder if you could understand."

Sasuke, who had simply listened after initiating the discussion, scoffed. So she could travel fast anywhere? He admitted that the hole was curious, but it would be useless against his brother. What would be the point of being able to get to him fast if you weren't strong enough to face him yet?

Of course, if Sasuke cared a little more and had more imagination, he would have been able to see a glimpse of what the manipulation of boundaries could do. Then he would have paled instead and would have wondered if there was a way he could use that power.

"What are you doing here anyway?" Yukari asked to Naruto. "Didn't you tell me you had a test today?"

"The bastard is late! He can't even get here on the time he asked himself!" Naruto said, frustrated.

"Is that so? Maybe I should stay and watch the test. He should be coming soon after all."

One hour later, they were still waiting. Yukari had fell asleep waiting, still only half of her body out of the gap.

"Yo." Kakashi said, appearing suddenly and waving at them. When he didn't hear a reply, he looked at the four of them more closely… Wait, four?

He quickly identified the person who wasn't part of the team and sweatdropped at the sight. He missed the meeting since he was late, but it was hard to ignore the talks about her that followed. After learning how terrifying she was from the rumors, he had to wonder about the veracity of them after seeing her sleeping.

Thankfully, he didn't have to decide what to do about her. It seemed she had sensed him and was beginning to wake up slowly. He just turned towards his team, letting her do as she wants. He placed an alarm and took out two bells before talking.

"This alarm will ring at noon. Your goal is to take one of these bells from me before then. Those who fail will not only fail the test, but they will be tied and I'll eat in front of them. Since there are only two bells, one of you will fail. You can use whatever you want. Any question?" He asked after his explanation. Bu now, Yukari was fully awake and was simply listening.

"Anything?" Sakura said, a little shocked "But won't that be dangerous for you sensei?"

"Yeah, after all, you couldn't even dodge that eraser yesterday!" Naruto said, laughing.

"Look who's talking… You didn't even manage to pass the simple graduation test at the Academy. Are you sure you should be here?" Kakashi said, knowing fully well his words would enrage Naruto.

Naruto took offense at those words, like Kakashi expected. Raising one of his arms and aiming at Kakashi, he shot several bullets at where he was, hoping to take him down. Kakashi simply used Kawarimi and moved behind Naruto, a kunai held at the young boy's neck. The three genin hopefuls were shocked at the speed he moved.

"I didn't say go yet."

Kakashi glanced at them. Sasuke had a smirk on his face, probably recognizing his strength and expecting a good challenge. Sakura, who had gotten a morale boost from Sasuke's smirk, also smiled in anticipation. Naruto also had a devious smile on his face.

Kakashi just hoped Naruto wasn't planning a prank. Even he wasn't fully safe from them.

"Well, I think I'm starting to like you… Go!" he announced.

All three of them moved away. The only ones remaining were Kakashi and Yukari.

"What are you doing here anyway?" Kakashi asked.

"I'm simply watching this little test of yours. I do want to see what those two are capable of if they are to be on the same team as Naruto." She answered. "Of course, I won't interfere. It would be too easy if I intervened after all."

"Thanks?" Kakashi said, sweatdropping. Yukari disappeared in her gap and reappeared in another, near a stone tablet.

"Time to fight sensei!" A loud voice announced, making Kakashi turns his head towards the fool who had just announced his presence instead of attacking from behind.

Of course, it was Naruto. Sakura and Sasuke, hidden and observing the scene, just stared at Naruto, wondering how he even managed to graduate.

"Naruto, what are you supposed to be again?" Kakashi asked in a sarcastic tone. Seriously, the kid could be one of the stealthiest people ever when it came to a prank, but when it's time for something serious…

Naruto didn't respond. He started running towards Kakashi, a hand moving to get a weapon. Kakashi, seeing him approach, also decided to take something out. Naruto stopped, asking himself what he was going to take out.

"_Is he going to take out a kunai or a shuriken… Or maybe he has a better weapon inside. Whatever it is, I need to… What the hell?"_

Kakashi had taken out a book and started reading, blushing a little and laughing to himself. Before Naruto could begin to protest in anger, Kakashi looked up from his book at him.

"Oh, don't worry about me. Just continue what you were doing."

"_Well, he certainly knows how to push Naruto's buttons_…" Yukari thought, observing the scene.

Predictably, Naruto rushed in anger and tried to punch Kakashi. Kakashi simply blocked with his other hand. Naruto tried to kick him right after, but he ducked under his foot. Naruto, once he was on the ground again, tried to blast him with danmaku at point-blank range, but Kakashi moved behind him and the three bullets he shot hit the ground. However, before Naruto could realize where his sensei was, Kakashi acted. He formed the tiger seal in his hand and attacked.

"Konohagakure Furui Taijutsu no Ougi: Sennen Goroshi!"

The scream, followed by a splash, was just like Kakashi expected.

"Wasn't that a little too much?"

Kakashi almost dropped his book, startled by the sudden question. He turned and saw Yukari's head coming out of a gap next to him. Looking a little further away, he saw the upper body, which hadn't changed at all except for the new gap that she used for her head.

As useful as it could be, Kakashi still found it a little creepy.

"Well, I think he still has too much self-confidence." He answered. He was about to return to his reading, but his senses told him that something was going on in the water. Yukari pulled back her head from the gap and closed it, waiting to see what Naruto's next move would be.

Two Narutos jumped out of the water, immediately rushing Kakashi as soon as their feet hit the ground. Kakashi let them come to him and disposed of both of them with a well placed kick, both of them being clones.

"Ninja Sign 'Kage Bunshin no Jutsu'"

Kakashi turned his head from his book, wondering what the heck that meant. The real Naruto was out of the water and a strange circle had appeared under him. In curiosity, he waited for Naruto's next move.

Sakura, impressed by Naruto's solid clones, was now wondering what he was going to do. Sasuke just observed, still waiting for a chance to strike.

A seal later, various Narutos were appearing and disappearing in succession, each launching a ring of bullets from themselves. The real Naruto was focused on his clones and hadn't moved from his spot.

Kakashi observed all of this with a critical eye. He jumped over the closed wave of bullets that were about to hit him and made his way to Naruto, jumping, ducking and sidestepping in order to avoid the waves aiming for him. Sliding under another wave, he appeared next to a very surprised Naruto and kicked him, sending him away from the water. The strange circle under him disappeared and the clones and bullets disappeared at the same time.

"I'll be frank: I don't know what it was, but I think you need to refine it a little more." Kakashi said, walking towards Naruto. "Also, do you really need to leave a mark of your passage in a fight?"

Kakashi motioned around him. The area was in a bad shape from the bullets that hit the ground or the trees. Sakura and Sasuke, forced to take cover from the bullets, silently agreed with their sensei.

At least Naruto had the decency to act embarrassed when he finally noticed that.

"There's a reason danmaku battles are fought in the sky, you know." Yukari said, surprising Naruto and Kakashi (again). This time however, it wasn't just her head. Kakashi wondered what she meant by her statement, but decided he didn't need to know.

"Yukari-chan, why did the spell break so easily?" Naruto asked. He got kicked, yes, but he tried to regain concentration right after. But it was already too late by then.

"Didn't I already tell you danmaku is harder to make here for you than in Gensokyo? It's the same with spell cards. The moment you lost your concentration from the kick, the spell broke." Yukari explained. Naruto, listening, made a realization face once he understood.

Kakashi listened too, trying to learn a little more about Naruto's abilities. Well, he listened until he got hit by shurikens. However, a log had taken his place a second after. Kakashi had disappeared.

"What the hell?!" Naruto said shocked, having witnessed the whole scene. "I wasn't finished with him!"

"I think I'll go see how your teammates will do. Why don't you think of a way to pass the test before trying to find him?" Yukari said, falling backward in her gap before closing it, leaving Naruto alone.

"How the heck can I get those bells if I can't even hit him?" Naruto asked himself out loud. He turned around, not sure of what to do when he noticed something and stopped moving to take a closer look. It was the two lunches Kakashi had left.

Naruto took a step towards them, but stopped right after. The lunches were for those who got a bell. It was a rule of the test. While it wasn't related, Yukari made sure Naruto understood the rules of battle in Gensokyo quite well. Nobody broke them because everybody accepted them.

And he accepted that test, right? Then he had no right to break that rule. He decided to search for Kakashi, trying to think of plan along the way.

* * *

Kakashi and Yukari looked at an unconscious Sakura, who had fainted from the illusion of Sasuke dying.

"I know I have low expectations from humans, but that was really pathetic." Yukari said, not amused at all.

"Maybe the illusion I used was just too strong emotionally for her?" Kakashi said, trying to defend Sakura. However, he didn't sound very convincing.

* * *

"What the heck happened to Sakura?" Naruto mumbled to himself. He headed in the direction he thought it came from. It was surely the work of Kakashi. Maybe he was still around?

However, he only found an unconscious Sakura when he arrived. He shook her awake. There was no reason to leave her like that after all.

"Wha… What happened?" She asked, still a little out of it.

"How should I know? I heard you scream and I came here to check." Naruto answered.

"Screaming…? Ahh! Sasuke-kun was seriously wounded! We have to help him!" She shouted frantically, looking around for any signs of Sasuke.

"Sasuke? He's not here last time I checked. Besides, wouldn't Kakashi-sensei be in trouble if he killed one of us?"

Sakura blinked and she looked at Naruto. Then she blinked again. How could she have missed this? Kakashi was certainly not authorized to kill them in a test. And to add to the shame, it was Naruto, of all people, who made her realize it.

"Well, I'm going to find Kakashi. I can't afford to fail that test." Naruto announced before leaving. Sakura saw him go before deciding to follow him. She had no idea where Kakashi was and she couldn't afford to fail that test either.

* * *

Naruto found walking away from Sasuke, who was buried up to his head. Yukari looked amused at the situation before leaving too.

"What the heck happened here Sasuke?" Naruto asked, approaching Sasuke. He refrained from laughing, having himself been on the receiving hand of a humiliating technique earlier.

Sasuke looked angry, but choose to answer.

"He avoided my fireball and got me from underground. I almost got a bell too, but he moved at the last second." He said, before working on freeing himself.

"Damn… How the heck are we supposed to get a bell if he doesn't give us a chance?"

"You're just too weak, dobe. I was close before. I can do it if I try again." Sasuke said, once he got himself free.

"Who the hell are you calling weak?! At least I'm not the one who got buried!"

"Well, I don't need to blow everything up around me to try to get what I want."

Sakura arrived at that moment to witness another verbal fight between Naruto and Sasuke.

"What are you doing?" She asked, stopping them. "There can't be much time left before noon."

As if on cue, the alarm chose that moment to ring, sounding fatalistic to the three of them. Kakashi appeared next to them a few seconds later, looking at them critically.

"I suppose you know what awaits you, right?" He asked.

Before any of them could react, each of them got knocked out by Kakashi. He then proceeded to tie each of them to a log.

* * *

"…Teamwork. That was the answer." Kakashi said, ending his explanation.

Silence was the only response he got. Naruto was trying to bash the back of his head to the log while still being tied, calling himself an idiot. Sakura looked down in shame and Sasuke was still looking angrily at Kakashi since he said they were failures as ninjas.

"But… I think I'll give you another chance."

He threw two kunais in different directions. Sasuke and Naruto were freed, the rope tying them cut. Sakura looked at Kakashi, silently asking why she was still tied up.

"First, eat" Kakashi said, motioning towards the tow lunches he placed in front of them. "Then we'll try again. Don't give anything to Sakura, since she was the one who did the least. Anyone who gives her something is eliminated on the spot."

He disappeared right after, the movement of the leaves the only sign of his departure.

Or at least, that's the impression he wanted to leave. He simply moved away from them, far enough so that they couldn't detect him but still close enough for him to see what they would do.

"Do you think they will be able to succeed this time?"

Kakashi looked up. Hanging upside down over him was Yukari.

"Strange question coming from you. Don't you have enough confidence in your protégé?" Kakashi asked back, curious.

"I have confidence in his skills. However, this kind of test depends entirely on his personality, right? That being said, I think it has already been decided."

Kakashi checked on them. Sure enough, Naruto and Sasuke had freed Sakura and shared the food he gave them with her.

"Indeed it has." Kakashi said.

Now, what should he do? That was the first time a team passed his test. How should he go about announcing it? Maybe scaring the hell out of them just before would be fun. Yes, he would do just that.

* * *

"And that's it for today. We will officially begin do to mission for the village tomorrow." Kakashi announced.

Sasuke only smirked, Sakura laughed in happiness and Naruto once again expressed his joy in the only way he knew: screaming it the loudest possible way.

They all took what they had brought with them to the test and began to return to the village when Yukari appeared, once again upside down, over Naruto and grabbed him by his shoulders.

"_Doesn't she feel sick being like that all the time?_" Kakashi thought.

"Eh? What is it Yukari-chan?" Naruto asked.

"I think you need more training. You have your things right? Then we're going now!"

"What?! Right now? Can't I celebrate first? I'm now officially a shinobi!"

"No buts! You didn't even manage to touch your sensei today! So I won't go easy on you!" Yukari announced and began to lift Naruto into the gap she was in.

The rest of Team 7 watched as Naruto was dragged into the gap kicking and screaming before they both disappeared and the gap closed.

"Kakashi-sensei, who was she anyway? She didn't tell us much." Sakura asked, not thinking of anything better to ask.

"I _wish I knew more myself…_" Kakashi thought.

* * *

Naruto and Yukari appeared outside of their house in Gensokyo. After a slightly painful landing on his butt, Naruto got up and took the bag he had off his shoulders.

"So what am I supposed to do today?" Naruto asked, curious. Yukari usually left the training to Ran since she was asleep most of the time.

"You saw the results of using a Spell Card in your world, right? I'll teach you a way to fight using both bullets and hand-to-hand, which should be more convenient for you." Yukari said.

"So… What do I do?"

"You fight me. You'll learn better in a mock combat than if I just told you about." Yukari said. She then got out of the gap and stood a few meters away from Naruto, waiting for him to attack.

Naruto nodded and started to run towards her. He knew she was probably going to counter whatever he would do, so he didn't bother with his own attack.

Yukari closed her parasol and swinged at him with it, hitting him and sending him back where he was in a painful way.

"Now what was that Naruto-kun? Do try to not just rush in blindly, would you?"

Naruto nodded, rubbing the spot where he was hit. This time he ran around her, deciding he would attack suddenly to try to surprise her. After a few seconds, he changed direction and went in to attack her. Yukari held out an arm and opened a small gap in front of her, sending kunais from it. Naruto had no choice but to jump to the side to avoid them. However, just after jumping, Yukari moved swiftly next to him and hit him again with her parasol.

"That is one way of using bullets in a ground fight. You force your opponent to move where you want to attack him right after." Yukari explained to Naruto.

Naruto simply got up and prepared to attack again. This time, he sent some bullets directly where she was, expecting her to move away from them. She did. Naruto rushed in to attack, but was rewarded with bullets pelting him for the effort.

"My my, Naruto, did you forget? Nothing stops you from using bullets to attack normally or to defend yourself too. "

Naruto grumbled, but still got up.

"Do you have to hit me so hard Yukari-chan?" He asked, annoyed. That parasol and her bullets hurt! He still feels that first hit.

"Now don't be like that Naruto-kun. Since when did you expect something different from training? Just tell yourself this is just another reason to avoid my blows. Now attack again, this is far from over."

Naruto said nothing and prepared himself to attack again. She was right after all.

* * *

"I'm pretty sure I didn't expect to do that kind of job when I decided I was going to be Hokage."

Sakura and Sasuke didn't answer, but it wasn't hard to see they were silently agreeing with him while they continued to repair the roof they were on.

Kakashi was reading his book from another roof, sitting in a comfy chair in the shade and checking on them once in a while. Yukari, who was awake right now, was next to him in a gap, drinking tea.

"Just how long are they going to do that kind of work anyway?" Yukari asked, visibly bored.

Some days, Yukari didn't follow them. Others days, she did. The only reason she gave was to be with Naruto. Team 7 had no choice but to get used to her presence. Especially Kakashi.

The Third gave Kakashi an unofficial mission when he learned that Yukari followed them sometimes. In simple terms, it was to get as much information about her as possible if he could.

Yukari never participated in any mission they took, merely choosing to observe. Kakashi, who always took the job of assigning the tasks and observing their works, was thus spending time with her. Conversation was merely a way to pass time and doing the Third's assigned task.

"I suppose they_ could _do a more difficult mission, but I still think it would be better to wait a little longer." Kakashi answered, not taking his eyes off his book. "Why are you asking anyway? You're not going to follow us on those too, are you?" He asked, a little worried.

"Come on now, do you think I'm stupid? However, Naruto-kun is itchy to test his skills in a real fight. He learns, but knowing how he is would motivate him. Speaking of which, I don't see you do that much with them."

"Ah, you noticed? But there is a reason for that you know."

"Care to explain then?"

"Simple. They already are training. I merely try to find them better missions."

"Somehow, I doubt Naruto-kun would call 'cleaning the park while it's raining' a better mission."

"D-rank missions are here mostly for genin teams who are either newly formed or had a member changed. They are here so that everyone can get used to the others team members, no matter how much they dislike each other. That way, they learn to be able to work with anyone. Also, they'll have to be able to accomplish missions even under the worst circumstances. The weather is merely one that you cannot control.

"Oh, subtle. I like that."

"Thanks, but it wasn't me who invented the system you know."

"Still, what about their combat skills?"

"It's not my fault they don't ask me for that after mission hours."

"What do you mean?"

"Remember that they're considered adults. There is a library in Konoha where shinobis have access to a number of scrolls depending on their ranks. They can also ask me to supervise training or help them learn when we're not doing missions. But if they only ask me when we're supposed to work, I can't do much for them."

"I see. To learn to not be afraid to ask and trying to give a good habit since it can only help them in the future."

"Exactly. There's no reason you cannot train outside of daytime."

Yukari had finished her tea by now and noticed to the three genin were almost finished. Kakashi also noticed and marked the page he was reading before closing his book.

"What do you think of them about their training?" Yukari asked.

"I'm pretty sure Sasuke is training in his free time. But it's not like he have anything else to do."

"True."

"Naruto… Well, you already make sure he trains, so there shouldn't be any problem, depending on what he actually learns."

"Nice try, but I'm not telling. And you should know by now that I don't want Naruto-kun to be a weakling."

"And Sakura… I only hope the first C-rank mission will actually wake her up."

"Pffft… I hate that type of girl. Should I crush her myself and save you the trouble?" Yukari said, a feral smile beginning to appear on her face.

"Err… Please don't." Kakashi asked. He really didn't need that kind of trouble.

* * *

It wasn't long before Naruto snapped. The darn cat (even Chen would hate it) had been the last straw and he had enough of doing jobs that anybody could do.

The Third silently considered Naruto's request after he was finished speaking. Truthfully, there was nothing wrong with it. Team 7 had done a great number of D-rank missions by now. And they would have to start doing those anyway in the future.

He was about to speak when Naruto cut him off.

"If you're so worried, can't you send another team with us then?"

Well, that was a possibility. He gave a look to Iruka to check the C-rank scroll, but he only shook his head after a quick look. The Hokage let out a sigh at Iruka's answer.

"A good idea but there is no C-rank mission asking or paying for two teams."

"Then why don't you just send someone else with us?" Naruto asked again.

"It's the same problem. We can't start paying our ninjas from our own money just for safety precautions." Sarutobi answered. Now if only he could tell him he was going to give him one mission anyway before he cut him off again…

"Then what if I find someone who accepts to go anyway? There would be no problem right?"

Now Sarutobi paused. At his knowledge, there wasn't anyone in Konoha that would accept to do a mission without a pay. That only left one place where Naruto could find such a person. It would be a good opportunity to acquire more information on Gensokyo. However, if word started to spread that Konoha started to ask non-shinobis to do their missions, it would have an impact on their reputation.

He glanced at Kakashi, who only shrugged. He took a minute to think about it and decided on an answer.

"Alright then. You have one hour to bring whoever you are thinking of here and I'll decide then." He said.

Naruto nodded, before making a run for it. The room was quiet when the doors opened again, showing that Naruto was already back.

"Hm, just to know, what type of mission it will be?" Naruto asked.

"An escort and protection mission." The Hokage said. He briefly wondered for a moment if it was Yukari waiting just outside, but the question had calmed his nerves. As strong as she was, he wouldn't agree to let her go with them on that mission.

This time Naruto left without turning back.

* * *

"Huh? But why?"

"Naruto, she already has enough duties as it is in the Netherworld. Do you really think she would accept to leave for so long?"

Yukari, truthfully, did not really want to let Naruto bring someone from Gensokyo to his world. She figured that Naruto and his team should be strong enough for an escort duty. Still, she didn't care enough to actually voice her opinion to Naruto.

Naruto was taken aback for a moment before beginning to think of all the people he had met in Gensokyo so far.

"Marisa?"

"Unless you have something good to give to her, she won't accept."

"Alice?"

"Same as before."

"Suika?"

"She would get bored in no time."

"Then what about…"

Eventually, Naruto ran out of names. Damn it, he couldn't come back alone! It was his chance to get a C-rank mission!

Then he got an idea.

"What if I just force one of them to come then?"

"Now you start thinking. However, I want to hear what you have in mind first."

"Well, you see…"

* * *

"… And that's it" Naruto said, ending his explanation.

In front of him, Remilia drank some of her tea, her eyes closed.

The brat did have a lot of guts to come wake her up and ask something like that. However, she thought he had a good reason to actually come here willingly and agreed to meet him.

"So if I agree to lend you someone, you'll give me all the copies of that picture, right?" She said, summarizing his deal.

"That's right."

"Fine then. I have someone just in mind for that, but out of curiosity, just who do you think I will ask to accompany you?"

"Well, I'm not stupid enough to ask you of course. And I think Sakuya will try to kill me if I asked her. So I thought of China."

Well, he didn't say anything about Patchouli, but Remilia knew he hadn't even met her.

"It seems you have a brain after all. Sakuya, go get the door guard."

Sakuya nodded before leaving. She came back a few minutes later with the person she was asked to get.

"You asked for me mistress?"

"Yes." Remilia said, turning to her. "You're relieved of your duties at the entrance for a while to help Uzumaki here on a mission. He'll give you the details."

Hong wondered why Remilia asked her to do such a thing, but she didn't let it show. She would ask the boy later about it.

As she turned to get some things she would need, Remilia added one thing before she left.

"Of course, if this mission ends up as a failure, you'll be fired." She said as if it was nothing.

"WHAT?"

Remilia started to talk before China asked the obvious question.

"You are only dealing with humans. There should be no reason for you to get beaten, right?"

China only nodded.

"There, you see. No problems. Now go. And you better represents the Scarlet Devil's house well."

She bowed a little nervously and left, followed shortly by Naruto. As they left, Remilia immediately heard them start talking.

"What did I do to you? The first time, I get blasted. Then you want to make me lose my job?"

"Of course not! How was I supposed to know…"

Remilia and Sakuya were now the only ones in the room.

"Remilia-sama, why did you agree to this? Even with that picture, you aren't one to usually grant people requests." Sakuya asked.

Remilia finished her tea before answering.

"Yukari has an obvious interest in that boy. I intend to find out what."

Then, as she prepared to return to sleep, she couldn't help but add something else.

"That and the fool don't realize he bargained the only thing stopping me from beating him to a pulp."

* * *

The small trip was mostly spent in silence, but Naruto took the time to explain to China some things he thought she needed to know about his world. She listened and asked some questions of her own.

It wasn't long before they finally returned to the mission assignment's office. Kakashi had been reading his book and Sasuke and Sakura had just waited, used of doing that courtesy of Kakashi.

The Third motioned to Hong to come forward, which she did. It seemed he had been right when he thought Naruto would get someone from Gensokyo.

"I trust Naruto explained to you why you are here?" He asked to the girl.

"Yes." She answered.

"If you don't mind, I would like to know your name and what are your fighting capabilities."

The door opened, but few looked to see who was entering. It was probably just another team that came to get a mission.

"My name is Hong Meirin and I suppose you could say I'm a taijutsu specialist."

Maybe she would have said more. Maybe she wouldn't have. But a gasp was heard from behind her and she turned to see what it was.

When she did, she asked herself what kind of human willingly wore green spandex.

* * *

Kakashi had noticed Gai and his team entering, but didn't say anything as he continued to listen to the girl Naruto had brought.

"_Might as well buy myself a few more seconds…_" Was his thought.

Then she said she was a taijutsu specialist. And he noticed she wore green.

He inwardly groaned, knowing what would surely happen. Two of the genin Gai had with him looked like they wanted to flee at once. His team wondered what was going on, but it was only because they didn't know Gai.

"Gai-sensei! Did we really hear that correctly?" The third member of the team asked. He looked like a younger clone of the jounin.

"You are not mistaken Lee. Let us present ourselves to her, my youthful students!" He said, as if they were going to meet someone important.

While younger ninjas would wonder why they were so happy to see a taijutsu specialist, there is a particular reason to that. The simple fact is that those who called themselves taijutsu specialists were rare. Those who were powerful were even rarer.

To be a taijutsu specialist, one had to put much effort in that goal. They had to push their bodies to the limit in training, they had to learn how to react in many particular situations in battle to cut the time they used to think of their next move and they had to make sure to never be predictable in their fights.

Many young ninjas, when comparing all the effort needed for that and the fancy jutsus they could learn and use with much less effort, preferred to use jutsus and thought they could fry those who went in close before they would even reach them. However they learned too late their mistake when they were already on them before they even completed all the seals they needed.

One a side-note, many taijutsu specialists didn't like the Hyuuga clan. Sure, attacking the inner coils was a good way to fight if one wanted to not waste much time and effort in battle. However, the fact that they didn't train as much as them and could still put them down in possibly one hit to a vital point was really frustrating to some.

Kakashi choose to tune them out, for his own mind. Their greeting was completed with the tears-filled hug in the sunset after Gai presented Lee as the one who would surely become even stronger than him in the future. The other two members presented themselves after them in a far calmer manner.

After it was over, they finally got their mission, to protect a bridge builder in Wave country. His three genin went home to gather what they needed and he and Hong went to the gate ahead of them.

"I hope you weren't too uncomfortable back there. Gai tends to be passionate about most things in life." He said, starting a conversation to kill time.

"Ah no, it's alright. I was simply surprised at first. Are they really like that all the time?" She asked, curious.

"Yes…" Kakashi answered. Inwardly, he wondered how the two normal students managed to cope with Gai. If he remembered well, they were with Gai for around a year now.

"I see. To be honest, I'm a little envious of them." She said.

Kakashi's brain crashed. When it restarted, he tried to calm his nerves first before talking.

"Is that so… May I ask why?" He said, trying to make sure his tone didn't sound like he was asking if she was insane.

"Well, it's rare to see humans so happy in their lives. I wouldn't mind being as happy as them most of the time."

The way she called them humans made Kakashi realize that despite her appearance, she really was of the same race as Yukari.

Still, her answer made him think. Many thought Gai had to be at least a little crazy to act like that all day. Still, he didn't think Gai minded at all. He was rarely down and he spent as much time as possible with his students, happy to see them grow. Compared to him, Kakashi reluctantly accepted that Gai had to have the happier lifestyle.

That was a little depressing to acknowledge.

* * *

Author's notes: You know what? Rewritting scenes that you won't really change anyway is a real inspiration-killer. After writing Kakshi's test, I decided I had to skip scenes that I won't change anyway.

Also, for those familiar with Immaterial and Missing Power, you surely noticed that Naruto will fight more that way in the future. Maybe I really should have started that way, but meh.

What did you like? What did you dislike? What could be made better? Don't be afraid to review and write your opinion. I answer all non-anonymous reviews.


	7. Wave Mission

Author's notes: Yes, I know. I am beyond late with this chapter. However, I had my exams to worry about first. Then I had to tear myself out of Persona 3 and The World Ends With You. Which wasn't easy at all.

Frankly, I'm a little ashamed at myself. The last chapter became the one that got me the most reviews and alerts.

Also, I now know for sure that writing scenes that don't really change from the manga is hell. Expect me to skip more scenes from the manga next chapter.

With that said, enjoy this chapter.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto and I don't own Touhou.

* * *

Chapter 6: Wave Mission

The group travelled calmly, the teacher and his students talking between each other. The youkai gatekeeper stayed silent, preferring to look at the trees on her sides as she walked. She didn't dislike her job, since there were always humans who wanted to challenge her, but always staying at the same place could get boring after a long while.

The older ninja, Kakashi, had asked her to only intervene as a last resort if things went wrong.

"_It is their mission after all. If you and I took care of everything, they wouldn't gain anything that way_." He had said.

It made sense. One couldn't get stronger if they never had a real fight. She knew Naruto would be fine and the dark-haired boy looked like confident in what he was doing. On the other hand, the pink-haired girl didn't look much like a fighter. Maybe this mission would benefit her the most.

Even if she wouldn't have to do anything, she thanked Naruto for bringing her here. Her free days were rare and distant and it certainly wasn't going to change anytime soon. If all went well, this would even be like an unofficial vacation!!

Then she saw Kakashi get ripped to shreds.

* * *

Naruto was taken by surprise as he found himself surrounded. On one side, two ninjas armed with claws and on the other side and up, a chain that promised pain if the two ninjas caught him with it. Still, if he just turned around and fired some bullets at them, it would…

"_Well, too late for that…"_ Naruto thought as Sasuke managed to pin the chain to a tree, before landing a good hit on the two ninjas that broke the chain from theirs gauntlets.

However, one of them started to run for him. This time he didn't hesitate and fired bullets directly towards his head. The enemy, running directly at him, only had the time to look surprised as they collided on his head. A kick from Naruto a second later and he was on the ground.

The other unknown ninja was running directly to Tazuna. China was already in front of him, ready to fight if needed. Sakura also moved in front of him, a kunai in her hands. The crimson-haired girl took a glance at her and judged that she wouldn't be able to deflect the coming attack effectively. Even if she did deflect it, the claw could still hit the old man behind them.

When the ninja was almost on them, she slammed the ground with her foot, which created a small tremor. Sakura almost lost her footing and Tazuna fell on his butt. The enemy who hadn't expected it either and was running lost his footing and was falling to the ground.

Or at least, he would have if he hadn't been back slammed on his head by the girl who created the tremor. He was sent to the ground, unconscious.

"Well, look like you managed alright without me." A voice said, coming from Kakashi who was leaning on a tree.

Two shouts of relief were heard, coming from Naruto and Sakura. Sasuke looked like he expected it and China really hadn't expected him to die that easily.

"However, I think you need to explain why you were targeted by ninjas and why did you lie about it, Tazuna." Kakashi asked, looking serious.

Tazuna looked down, knowing it was too late to be sorry.

"Still, I suppose it would be better if you told that to the Hokage. My students were able to defeat them now, but there's no telling what will happen next time. We'll have to return to the village first."

"So… We're abandoning the mission?" China asked, sounding worried.

"Well, yes of course. I just explained why." Kakashi answered, confused.

He was even more curious when she walked to Naruto and grabbed him by his collar.

"YOU REALLY HATE ME, DON'T YOU!? BUT WHY? WHY? I NEVER DID ANYTHING TO YOU!" She shouted, shaking him and looking like something horrible had happened to her.

Naruto managed to raise a hand, making her pause to let him speak.

"B-But… He said we were abandoning it. It's not like it's a failure, right?" He said.

"What do you think Remilia-sama will consider that?" She asked in a flat tone, already knowing the answer.

"…Point."

She started shaking him again for her answer. Before Naruto became sick, Kakashi walked to them and stopped China.

"Can I ask what the problem is?" He asked.

Before she could speak, Naruto answered for her.

"I had to ask her employer to get her to help us. However, if the mission is a failure, she'll be fired."

"Oh." That sucks, Kakashi thought.

"Still, why do we have to give up on this mission? We didn't really have any problem with those two, right?! And it's not like there's a whole army of ninjas trying to kill us, right?" Naruto asked.

Kakashi shoot a glance at Sasuke and Sakura.

"I don't see why we have to go back either." Sasuke said. Sakura, of course, agreed with Sasuke.

Kakashi sighed. He was sure he was going to regret it, but he wasn't one to give up either.

"Alright then, we'll continue the mission." He announced.

Naruto cheered and China let out a sigh of relief. Kakashi then turned to Tazuna.

"Do you mind telling the whole story now?" He asked him.

* * *

After Tazuna was done, Kakashi regretted continuing the mission a little now. There was no doubt that he had enough money to hire someone dangerous. Briefly, he glanced at Meirin, wondering what she was thinking of all this.

He had observed the short fight earlier. He would have stepped in since Sakura wouldn't have been able to defend herself, but the older girl had apparently reached the same conclusion as he.

"What do you think of all this anyway? You've been rather quiet." Kakashi asked, letting his curiosity take him.

"Of the mission or that Gato guy?" She asked. Kakashi didn't respond and just shrugged, letting her decide. "Well, I don't really have any choice but to complete the job anyway if I want to keep mine. We just need to beat down anyone who tries to kill him, right?"

Kakashi nodded. She was stuck in this anyway.

"As for Gato, the people working under him must really be money-hungry or desperate. There's no way I would work under someone weaker than me."

"Oh? So the person you're usually working for is stronger than you?" Kakashi asked.

"Of course! If it was someone weaker, I would make her work for me instead. Gato is the kind of guy who would get eaten alive really fast in Gensokyo."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Well, the big majority of the humans in Gensokyo stick together. They would never works for Gato even with his money. And the majority of the youkais aren't interested in money either. If he can't defend himself, they'll just eat him without listening to him."

"I see. Too bad it doesn't work that way here. It would have saved us some trouble."

"Can't we just kill him ourselves?"

"We can't. There would be all sorts of legal problems if we killed him. They would also affect the village since the mission is to protect Tazuna and not assassinate Gato."

"Too bad. Look like we'll just have to beat down anyone who tries to kill Tazuna then."

Kakashi nodded. He only hoped it would be as easy as she made it sound. For some reason, he had a bad feeling.

* * *

Back at the Yakumo's house, Yukari was bored while waiting for Ran to come back from her chores. She could have sleep while waiting, but Ran would never dare to wake her up unless it was important.

Naruto wasn't changing like she hoped. His heart was still in favor of Konoha. Even being present during the so-called "missions" didn't seem to change him much. Still, it didn't bother her THAT much. It would have been boring if it was too easy.

Hearing a door sliding, she looked up to see Ran entering the room. The nine-tailed youkai bowed before sitting, sensing that her master had something to talk about.

"Ran, why isn't Naruto changing? He still clings to Konoha and the handful of people who like him there." She asked, in a bored tone.

Ran took a moment to think about her answer before speaking.

"From what I've seen of him, he always makes sure to keep the promises he made, like youkais. He also hates to let people down. Since he promised to himself and to others to be Hokage, it would be very hard for him to give up on his dream. In addition to that, he would never want to disappoints you, since he choose to return to at least try to fulfill his dream." She said.

Yukari let her head it the table with a groan. She was the reason her own plan wasn't working well? This proved to be trickier than what she first anticipated. She couldn't make sure his dream would never be fulfilled because it would produce the opposite of what she wanted. This meant that she had to let that village do the work for her.

"It looks like I'll have to think of others ways then…" She said, resigning herself to it with a sigh.

Another way to convince Naruto to stay here would be to makes sure he is liked by most of Gensokyo. It wouldn't be hard, considering he already knew some of the most powerful in Gensokyo. If he didn't get more friends in Konoha and was liked by most of Gensokyo, Naruto's would sooner or later change to prefer Gensokyo.

In order for that to work, however, she had to take care of possible future close friends of Naruto. Of course, Naruto would get angry if she went too far or hurt someone for no reason. Since he wouldn't return until much later, she decided it was a good moment as any to start. She already had her first target in mind and just had to find a time where it would be alone.

Besides, she was getting a little tired of that timid girl stalking Naruto…

* * *

Trapped in the water prison, Kakashi cursed the bad feeling he had earlier. Why did they always have to be right?

Of all people desperate for money, Gato had actually managed to hire one of the ex-swordsmen of the Mist, Momochi Zabuza. He managed to hold him back until he was sent in the water. Of course, Zabuza certainly didn't miss his chance. And now, only his genin and Meirin were between Zabuza and his target.

The later was looking at him as if he was really stupid, her eyes asking what he was thinking, to let himself get sent in the water in a fight with a water-wielding ninja.

"_No doubt about it, I'm rusty…"_ Kakashi concluded. This definitely wasn't his day.

"I'll finish you later, after I take care of those kids." Zabuza said, forming a seal. A second later, a water clone emerged.

"Until you're in my book, you're worthless against me…" The clone said, before vanishing. It reappeared in front of Naruto, already about to kick him when the clone exploded, turning back to water. Naruto found China standing in front of him, ready for more.

"What the hell? Who are you?" Zabuza asked. The girl had no headband and thus he didn't give her a second thought. He realized now he had made a mistake.

"Meirin Hong, gatekeeper and temporary bodyguard for now." She answered, not taking her eyes off him in case of any sudden move.

"Wohoo! Go China! Kick his ass!" Naruto cheered. There was no way she could lose if the real Zabuza couldn't move from his spot.

"What do you mean? I can't walk on water like them you know?" She answered.

This comment was answered by silence from Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura AND Zabuza.

"So, can you free your teacher? I'll take care of the clones." China asked.

"What do you mean? Don't you have a way to free him from here?" Sakura asked, curious.

"Because of this." China answered, before running back to Tazuna and destroying the clone that had moved behind him with a kick. Zabuza cursed, having missed his chance to finish his mission while the girl was distracted.

Naruto turned to Zabuza and extended a hand, firing bullets directly at Zabuza. Zabuza was surprised, but immediately took his sword and held it in front of him. The bullets collided with his sword, not leaving a scratch as they dissipated.

"I don't know what it was, but don't underestimate me, kid. My sword is stronger than whatever you can throw at me." He said, keeping his sword in front of him. He didn't know how strong it was, but he didn't want to find out. The distance had thankfully permitted him to react in time.

Still, his situation wasn't too good. His clones were completely useless against that unknown girl. He also had to defend himself against an unknown long distance attack that could only spell trouble if he was hit by it.

He could maybe turn the tables around if he made a sign for Haku to attack, but he didn't want to reveal his best tool so soon. The best thing he could do right now was to stick around a while longer to see was else could be learned about that team and just leaves to attack later.

Returning his full focus on the fight, he wondered why the orange brat summoned a small army of bunshins and why they all aimed at him.

He noticed just in time they weren't normal bunshins.

* * *

Sakura was amazed.

At first, she had some doubts about he girl Naruto called China. Naruto was easily impressed and it wouldn't have surprised her if he had exaggerated her skills.

But after said girl helped her against that claw-welding ninja, she recognized that she was strong. Then she saw her brush off the killing intent from Zabuza like it was nothing and eliminated the clones fast and easily.

Then Naruto came up with a great plan to hide them from view from Zabuza with his clones and transformed into a large shuriken. He then entrusted himself to Sasuke.

Sasuke, without even hearing a word about Naruto's plan, immediately understood as soon as he caught the henged Naruto. He threw him along with a real version of the weapon, to make sure Naruto wouldn't be caught.

And Zabuza fell for it. When he noticed the weapon about to be thrown at him, he put the sword on his back and caught the first one. With both his hands occupied, he had no choice but to avoid the second one.

And Naruto sealed the success of their plan once he was behind Zabuza. With a triumphant smirk, he threw a kunai aimed for Zabuza's head. Zabuza had no choice but dodge to the side, removing his hand from the water prison.

After that, Kakashi didn't waste his freedom and immediately started to fight again, dominating Zabuza completely this time. After immobilizing him, he went in for the kill, but was stopped by the masked hunter-nin, who got him first.

They were now going to Tazuna's house, which wasn't far. Meirin was carrying Kakshi, who had collapsed soon after the masked nin left with the corpse of Zabuza. Naruto and Sasuke had smirks on theirs faces whenever they looked at each other, probably thinking about how they outwitted someone far stronger than them.

She felt really useless. So far, she had done absolutely nothing good on that mission. She couldn't even be angry at the crimson-haired girl for defending her because she knew, deep down herself, that she wouldn't have been able to stop the claw. Even Naruto did more than her.

"_Then… Next time, I'll also fight. No matter what._" She thought, making a vow to herself.

* * *

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE'S ALIVE!?" Naruto shouted, in utter disbelief.

"Exactly what I said. He acted too strangely for a hunter. While he could just have wanted something from Zabuza's body, Zabuza is most likely than not alive." Kakshi answered.

He glanced briefly at China, who nodded in response. It seemed she had also found odd the method of "killing".

"What are we going to do then? You're stuck in bed if they work together and attack us…" Sakura started to say, before being interrupted.

"No worries. That method the hunter used will also force Zabuza to take time to recover." Kakashi said, easing Sakura's worries.

"So what are we going to do in the meantime?" Sasuke asked. He doubted Kakshi planned for them to just guard Tazuna while waiting for him to recover.

"I'm going to train you." Kakashi said, confirming what Sasuke had suspected. He then turned to Meirin.

"If you don't mind, can you watch over Tazuna alone in the meantime? I doubt Zabuza will attack alone again, but…"

"No worries. Even if the worst happens and Zabuza recovers faster than you, I can fight two opponents at once. I would be a poor gate guard if I couldn't." She said.

"What is that going change anyway? You'll get killed anyway in the end." A new voice said, interrupting the discussion. They all turned to the small boy who entered the room. Tazuna greeted his grandson Inari, happy to see him again.

"And what do you mean by that?" China asked, her voice containing a dangerous edge. She knew she was far from being the strongest in Gensokyo, but she certainly wasn't going to let herself be insulted by a human child who had no idea what he talked about.

"Gato will kill you all, that's all. You should just leave will you can." He answered. He decided to go to his room, ignoring Naruto's protests against what he said until the girl spoke again.

"So you want us to just leave your grandfather to die then?"

Inari didn't turn. Instead, he paused for some seconds before moving again to his room, not even answering. An uncomfortable silence settled in the room after his passage.

"Please excuse him…" Tazuna said, not adding more to explain why Inari acted like this.

* * *

The next day, Kakashi took his three genin for training in the woods while China followed Tazuna to the bridge.

On the way, she saw the state of poverty the town was in. They were far too many people looking for work on the streets. They were even children begging on the street. Some glanced at her, checking if she had anything of value. And judging by the scream just heard, no one bothered to stop thieves either.

Quietly tripping the thief unnoticed as he was passing her, Hong turned to Tazuna to talk.

"You know, I expected something bad, but this is quite worse than what I expected."

"You can blame Gato for that as well. If you had been here before, you would never have believed that the place changed so much…" Tazuna replied. Arriving at the bridge, he went to see a few persons to start today's work. After the work started, he returned to the girl.

"Well, I'm going to work. Be sure to warn us if you spot something unusual, okay?"

"No problems." China replied. "If Gato even dares to show his face here, I'll break his head."

Tazuna didn't know how to feel at that, with the smile she had while promising to kill on sight the rich man.

* * *

The day after, they were joined by Sakura, who had already completed the training.

"How are Sasuke and Naruto doing?" China asked, curious.

"Sasuke-kun is progressing slowly, but surely. Naruto is also progressing, but it seems he still has trouble concentrating the right amount of chakra." Sakura answered.

Once again, Naruto surprised her. After explaining what he was doing wrong, which was the fact that he wasn't calm enough, he got a calm face that Sakura had never seen on him before trying again.

This time, he almost went double the distance he had. It wasn't much, really, but it showed quite a lot of progress compared to his earlier attempts.

"Well, with a little luck, maybe they'll join us soon. Maybe I should do some training too instead of just standing around."

With that, China started doing one-handed push-ups, telling Sakura to warn her if something was wrong.

"Aren't you strong enough already?" Sakura asked. "You were really impressive back then."

China paused, looking at Sakura strangely. Then she laughed a little before answering.

"Trust me, you are never strong enough."

Sakura didn't say anything else, pondering that answer.

"Besides, aren't you a little worried about the upcoming fight? I would have thought you would continue to train even while being here."

"Eh? What do you mean?" Sakura asked, confused.

"I'm only here to assist you, no the other way around. You're not going to ask for help each time you fight someone stronger, are you?"

Sakura didn't know what to say. Not only China was right, but she promised herself to not just stand and do nothing like last time. If Naruto and Sasuke could fight someone way stronger to themselves, then she had to too.

* * *

Back at the clearing, Naruto sat down, checking his progress.

He could almost reach the same height as Sasuke now. His progress was good, but it wasn't as steady as Sasuke, who had much better control than him. The dark-haired boy was lengthening the distance even as was thinking right now.

"_Why the heck can't my control be as good as him? It can't be that different between him and I, isn't it?" _Naruto thought, scowling.

Taking a deep breath, he got up. What he needed was a break from that stupid tree. Sure, he had to train, but it would be useless if he couldn't control his frustration. But what would he do then?

He noticed Sasuke looking at him from the ground, wondering what was he thinking about. That gave him an idea.

"Hey bastard! Want to take a break from the tree?" Naruto shouted.

"What the… Do you think we have time for a break, dobe? We have no way to know the next time we'll fight!" Sasuke replied, angry at the suggestion.

"I know, I know… How about a quick spar? I need to take my mind off the tree and I need to test something out."

Sasuke's eyebrow went up in curiosity.

"What do you need to test exactly?"

"Just a different way to use danmaku in a fight. You know, my long range attacks." Naruto said, adding the last part when he noticed Sasuke's confusion.

Sure enough, Sasuke now knew what Naruto was speaking about.

"There's no way I'm letting you destroy the area around us like during the bells test! And we need the trees we use to check our progress, remember?" He answered, quite loudly.

"I KNOW! I'm not going to use it like that! So do you want to spar or not?"

Sasuke thought about it. He didn't feel like being a guinea pig, but he was curious about what Naruto wanted to test.

"Fine then, but not for long. First to get in an unblocked hit, is that alright?" Sasuke proposed, giving in. Besides, it was still training.

Naruto nodded and got into a stance. Sasuke did the same and both observed the other for a second, waiting for the other to make a move.

Naruto was the first to move, running in a straight line towards Sasuke. Sasuke wondered why the heck Naruto was charging so foolishly to him until he saw him make a seal for his favorite move, creating two clones. He readied himself to fight three opponents, but the two clones stayed behind.

Sasuke slightly moved his foot, preparing himself to evade. His instincts were rewarded when one of the clone raised his arm and shoot bullets in his direction, before disappearing. Since they came from his right, he decided to dodge to the left, which he did. He was almost hit by Naruto's punch right after.

"_What the… Damn, he planned for it! Good thing his taijutsu still sucks…_" Sasuke thought, realizing the purpose of the clones. He had blocked Naruto's punch and was about to counterattack, when he remembered that only one clone had attacked him.

He let go of Naruto and jumped backward, once again avoiding bullets targeting him.

"I see… You use clones as support to your own attacks. But your fighting skills still suck." Sasuke stated analytically.

"Feh… Don't think I'm done yet." Naruto said, preparing to charge once again.

However, Sasuke beat him to it, not wanting to leave him the time to create more clones. Reacting quickly, he fired bullets at Sasuke, before taking the chance to create a clone with the small time he had bought himself.

Sasuke had to side-step, Naruto's attack, but did not stop. Just as a clone appeared, he threw a punch in Naruto's direction. Naruto, who didn't have the time to prepare to defend from the punch, raised his arm in defense, only to receive a kick right after blocking. Sasuke didn't have a second to savor his victory, being hit by bullets not even a second after.

Both on the ground, they took a moment to collect themselves.

"Damn. I was sure I would have time to move…" Sasuke grumbled, getting up. He would have given a comment on his victory, since he was the first to hit, but being hit right after made that a hollow victory.

"Look like I need to practice more..." Naruto said to himself, getting up. He was upset by his loss. He knew Sasuke had a good eye and a fast mind, from what he saw against the two nuke-nins on the road, but he underestimated him.

Speaking of Sasuke, why was he staring at him like that?

"Is there something wrong with me or what?"

Sasuke continued to stare, as if waiting for something.

"Aren't you going to protest it was a fluke, it didn't count or something like that?" Sasuke said, finally explaining the stare.

"Huh? Why would I do that?"

Sasuke just stared more. What the hell happened to the Naruto whose pride always protested against his defeats?

"Ahh, right. Of course I hate losing! But after getting the crap kicked out of me so many times by Yukari-chan, her servant and her servant's servant, I kind of stopped doing that and started to think about what I did wrong instead." Naruto answered, finally knowing what Sasuke expected.

He certainly didn't intend to mention that they wacked him on the head each time he protested. "A loss is a loss, accept it." They said.

"Since when are you fighting like that anyway? I doubt with came up with it on your own." Sasuke asked, suspicious. Naruto always favored attacking directly in his fights.

"Well, Yukari-chan trains me whenever I have free time. She taught me to use danmaku as support or even defense." Naruto answered.

"Your mother? I didn't think she was a fighter." Sasuke said, a little surprised at the revelation.

Then again, he knew there was something different about Yukari from seeing her so much, and not just her power.

"Mother? Yukari-chan isn't my mother."

"She's not? Then you treat each other as brother and sister?" Sasuke asked, confusion evident in his voice.

"Not that either. To be honest, I called her mom for a while, but Ran-chan reacted strangely each time I said that."

He still didn't know what was wrong even by now. But each time he called Yukari 'mother' or 'mom', something happened. Ran would miss a step and almost fall, she would start choking if she was eating of drinking, she would drop whatever she was holding…

It was as if the very idea of Yukari being a mother was rejected in Ran's mind… But that couldn't be it, right?

"Well, we know we are family, and that's it."

Sasuke shook his head. It seemed Naruto's family was as strange as him. Clearing the matter out of his mind, he focused back on the tree-climbing training.

* * *

Days passed, following the same manner. Kakashi stayed at Tazuna's home to recover, checking from time to time Naruto and Sasuke, who continued to train. Sakura and China guarded Tazuna at the bridge.

Some events out of the ordinary happened, however. There was a day Naruto returned to the house, muttering something strange about a pretty girl who was actually a boy. Kakashi turned to Sasuke, the only one who could explain what was wrong. Said boy only shrugged and said he saw someone fitting Naruto's description on his way to train.

Of course, he certainly didn't say he thought that person was a girl for a moment too, before he asked Naruto who that was. He also didn't say his instincts told him something was strange about that person.

If he was right, he had an idea when he would see that person again.

There was also the day Naruto finally got fed up with Inari and told him to cry in a corner if found that so fun. Naruto left to sleep after that and Kakashi went outside to talk with Inari.

Now, today, Kakashi recovered enough to join the group on the bridge. Sasuke, having finished his training, also joined. Naruto would have joined too, if he wasn't sleeping soundly.

Sasuke mentioned that he stayed up late looking at his cards, mentioning something about trying to create a new one.

Arriving at the bridge, it wasn't long to see something was wrong. The people unconscious at the site gave that away pretty fast.

"_Damn… The bridge was almost finished too…_" Kakashi thought sadly, readying himself to fight. Even Gato would not dare to try to blow up the bridge. Such an act would expose Gato's real nature to the rest of the world, something he couldn't afford for his company.

Sure enough, an unnatural mist appeared on the bridge. Zabuza's voice followed, mocking his two students present. Then clones appeared, surrounding them.

Kakashi simply signaled at Sasuke to attack. Sasuke simply grinned, immediately attacking and destroying all of Zabuza's clones.

"Well well well, did you see that Haku? It seems he progressed a lot since last time." Zabuza said, moving into view along with his accomplice.

"Yes, it would seem so." Said the masked boy, staying next to Zabuza.

A silence ensued, each side looking at the other. Sasuke took a step forward, a kunai in each hand.

"I'll fight him." He simply said, looking at the masked nin.

Zabuza simply nodded to Haku, who took a senbon in one hand. He glanced briefly at Sasuke before starting the fight.

Sasuke reacted just in time moving back as the other boy was suddenly in front of him, pivoting on one foot to attack. He avoided the needle as it tried to pierce his side. Haku moved forward against and Sasuke choose to block this time.

The two weapons connected, each stopping the other from moving forward. Possibilities raced in Sasuke's mind, trying to decide his next move before his opponent attacked again.

"Would you consider giving up? I do not wish to kill you." Haku said, making Sasuke snap out of his thoughts.

"Giving up? Do you really think I'm going to do that?" Sasuke answered.

"I expected that answer. It seems I have no choice but to take that battle a step further."

Haku brought his hand forward and started making seals, surprising the Leaf shinobis. Sasuke found himself surrounded by ice needles as soon as Haku hit the ground with his foot.

Thinking fast, Sasuke concentrated, molding chakra to his legs. As the needles were about to hit, he moved.

Haku didn't have time to wonder where Sasuke went as shurikens tried to hit him. When they finally stopped, Sasuke was already behind him.

There are two things needed to win when two opponents fought with speed as their best point. First, one needed to be able to react as soon as his opponent started to move. Second, you had to predict what your opponent would do and react on it.

When Sasuke threw the kunai in his right hand, he was already moving to kick Haku, not even checking to make sure Haku had really ducked. The hit connected and Haku was sent back.

"I'm faster than you." Sasuke said with a smile, stating it like one stated a fact.

"Haku, it seems you need to be serious after all." Zabuza said, glancing at him.

"Understood, Zabuza-sama."

Suddenly, Sasuke didn't feel like smiling anymore. He was surrounded by mirrors made of ice, each reflecting the boy who created them.

Kakashi also grew worried at the sight of an unknown jutsu and tried to join Sasuke, but he was intercepted by Zabuza.

As Sasuke was attacked on all sides by Haku, China was thinking about what to do. With enough power, she could easily destroy the ice mirrors that trapped Sasuke. However, if Zabuza managed to get past Kakashi and decided to go for Tazuna…

Sakura decided for her. Taking a kunai, she moved forwards and threw it between two mirrors, hoping that Sasuke would catch it and try to defend himself from the needles. Haku, however, destroyed that hope by getting partially out of the mirror and catching the kunai just as it passed.

Sadly for Haku, that distraction was just what Naruto was waiting for to hit him with a bullet, making the masked boy fall out of the mirror he was in. Naruto announced his entrance, full of pride and ready to fight.

Unfortunately for his pride, even China gave him a weird look.

For annoying him, or simply because he knew the boy could be a threat, Zabuza threw a handful of shurikens at him, hoping to reduce the number of opponents him and Haku where facing. Naruto jumped to the side, the distance giving him more than enough time to avoid them.

Sasuke, ignoring what Haku asked Zabuza, took advantage of the unannounced break to think of a plan.

"_So he can be attacked even when partially out… He also disarmed me quickly and stopped Sakura's attempt to give me a weapon. If he doesn't want me to throw things at his mirrors… it may be because he has to get out of the safety of his mirror to attack. So if I stay inside and Naruto attack from outside, then we could…_"

"Hey, are you alright?" A voice said, just next to him.

"_Please don't tell me he actually…_"

Sadly, Sasuke's fear was confirmed when he turned his head to see Naruto stand next to him.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?! Didn't you see how he attacks?!" Sasuke said, exploding. How can Naruto fight smartly in times and act like a moron at the worst time?

"Not really, I arrived just before Sakura tried to give you a kunai. Why?"

If the situation hadn't been so desperate, he would have given in to his urge to stab Naruto. To think he was considering him to be a better ninja than he thought at first…

For now, he'll just vent his frustration at the mirrors.

"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!" Sasuke shouted, sending a huge fireball directly at the mirror Haku was in at the moment.

However, it proved to be useless and Haku decided to resume his attacks. Sasuke was sent to the ground while Naruto managed to barely stay on his feet. While the needles hurt him more than bullets, Naruto endured the pain instead of reacting to it, as he was conditioned to when he practiced dodging and grazing.

"Oh? It seems you can take that kind of attack… Should I take it a step further then?" Haku asked, tilting his head to the side.

As senbons pierced his body, Naruto regretted enduring the first attacks.

* * *

Kakashi, on his side, was in trouble. Zabuza had created a thick mist that hindered greatly his sight before starting to launch his attacks. Kakashi, with a bleeding but still functional hand, was stuck on the defensive with a kunai in his hand to deflect any projectile.

"_That's it. Once we're home, I'm getting back into shape._" Kakashi thought, irritated.

Unmoving, he waited for the next attack. Zabuza, as an expert of silent assassinations, had no trouble moving without creating any sound. The only moment he could detect an attack was the moment he launched them.

He waited. Zabuza wasn't attacking him. Kakashi looked around cautiously. There was no sign of Zabuza moving nearby to use his sword either.

"_That's strange… He knows I won't relax my guard no matter how long he waits. Either he prepares something stronger or… Damn! Tazuna!_"

Kakashi ran to where he had last sees Tazuna and Meirin, hoping he wasn't too late. However, Zabuza was already about to strike with his swords when he was able to see them.

"_Damnit! I got so caught up in the battle that I forgot Zabuza wouldn't miss a chance to… huh?"_

The sword descended, but it had been stopped. Meirin was standing in front of Zabuza, her hands holding the sword on the flat sides. Zabuza was trying to force the blade down, but she had no trouble keeping the sword still.

"It seems you underestimated me. I do hope you weren't thinking I couldn't fight in this mist, do you?" She asked.

Zabuza frowned. He had expected her to react, actually. Haku didn't see enough to think of a working strategy against her. As his clones were only at one tenth of his strength, he couldn't estimate how strong she was.

But he knew she was good. The speed at which she destroyed the clones was good enough proof of that. Only, he didn't expect her to actually have the strength and speed to stop his blade. Nor did he expect her to have more physical strength than him, seeing that she had no trouble at all stopping him to remove the sword from her hands.

He knew that attack had been a gamble he was going to be paying the price of just about now.

Kakashi, having seen a chance, threw several shurikens at Zabuza. Zabuza had no choice but to let go of his sword. China, now the only one holding the sword, threw it to the side, far enough so that Zabuza wouldn't get it back without being noticed doing so.

Cursing, Zabuza faded back in the mist. It looked like he had no choice but eliminate Kakashi first.

* * *

"_Could this get… No, now not the time to make things worse. What am I, Naruto?_ "

Sasuke was aware how unprofessional he sounded in his head right now. But frankly, he couldn't help it. He and Naruto had more senbons stuck in their bodies than he had the time to count and their opponent didn't look even winded.

Speaking of Naruto, he looked at his side. It looked like some of them had struck at the intended target, since he had trouble getting up. Even if Naruto was good at spotting and avoiding projectile attacks, he didn't have the same speed as he to avoid them. It was already a miracle they could move just in time to avoid being hit at vital spots.

He turned back to Haku. He concentrated on him, prepared to move the moment Haku moved.

The next moment, he got Naruto out of the way, having been the target of Haku's attack. Just a moment, he had seen exactly where Haku would go.

He felt something new in his eyes. Haku was already commenting on it, confirming what had just happened. On the bad side, however, it seemed Haku was now announcing his intention to finish things now.

That is, until he was stabbed in the back.

Naruto, on the ground, stared. Haku stared too as he looked behind him. Even he stared.

Sakura was behind the mirror Haku was in, holding the kunai that went inside the mirror.

Sasuke took that moment to look around. There was only one Haku now. The others mirrors weren't holding an image of Haku inside anymore.

"_He was running out of chakra… But Haku wasn't out of the mirror, but how did she… Wait, That's it!_"

Sakura moving behind Haku was easy to explain. All three of them were concentrated on their battles. It took minimal effort on Sakura's part to hide her presence and move. Since there was only one Haku, she was in no danger of moving behind the wrong mirror.

But now, he could explain something that had been nagging his mind. How could someone, even with a bloodline, move inside solid ice?

The answer? It wasn't possible. It only meant that the mirror with the real Haku only looked like it was solid. It certainly explained how senbons, who certainly weren't part of the bloodline, could enter and exit the mirrors.

And it was also why Haku didn't want him holding a weapon and why he destroyed all of Naruto's clones earlier. The mirrors weren't a shield, but only a mean of attack.

Haku finally reacted. He struck Sakura, sending her backward. He now had no choice but to finish the fight. With senbons in his hands, he attacked the most defenseless target, Naruto.

Sasuke saw the attack coming. He saw who was aimed. He knew what would happen if he moved to intercept in his current condition.

Even so, he moved.

* * *

Naruto saw it all. He saw Haku moving towards him. He knew he was the target. He also knew he wouldn't be able to move in time.

He saw Sasuke moving in front of him. He saw all the needles that now pierced his arms and neck. He saw him fall backwards.

His mind blank, he asked Sasuke why he did that.

**k…**

He vaguely heard Sasuke's answer. How he simply 'let his body react' and that he had hoped he wouldn't die before killing his brother.

**kil…**

He heard Sasuke telling him to hold on and stay alive, before Sasuke finally closed his eyes and stopped talking.

**Kill h…**

Still, looking at Sasuke, he didn't saw Haku quickly taking care of his wound, doing what he could with the short time he had.

**Kill him. Kill h…**

Naruto didn't heard Haku when he asked him if it was the first time he saw a friend die.

**Kill him! Kill him! Kill hi…**

"Shut up."

**KILL HIM! KILL HIM! KILL HIM! KILL HIM!**

Naruto started getting up, still looking at Sasuke's face.

**KILLHIM!KILLHIM!KILLHIM!KILLHIM!KILLHIM!KILLHIM!KILLHIM!KILLHIM!**

"You… You're going to **pay for what you did!**"

* * *

Sakura was running back at the mirrors. Even if she expected a counter-attack, that blow still hurt.

Knowing that the masked boy wouldn't fall to the same trick again, she didn't bother hiding her presence.

But when she arrived, all she could do was stare.

Naruto… Was crushing his enemy. There was no other word for it.

The senbons were deflected by the own strange red energy surrounding him. He was running at Haku, who couldn't move in time due to the wound she gave him. Naruto sent him against a mirror, before punching him in the stomach. The mirror shattered with the blow as Haku was sent flying away into the mist.

Naruto only paused for a moment, opening the hand he used to punch the boy. Sakura couldn't help but notice how… sharp his fingers looked.

The moment after, Naruto also disappeared in the mist, at the same place he sent Haku.

Sakura snapped out of her daze. She looked around, wondering where Sasuke was during all of this. She found him on the ground.

"No…"

Sakura ran to him, not even noticing the remaining mirrors turning back to water. She tried to find a pulse, praying to all the higher powers she could think of that there was one. She didn't find one.

"No… Sasuke… Please wake up…"

She started to cry. Why? Why did this mission have to turn out like this? Why did…

She felt something wet land on her head. She put her fingers on it, making sure to use the hand that hadn't been bloodied when she stabbed Haku.

When she looked at her hand, she only saw more blood. She knew it wasn't her own and that it couldn't be Sasuke. Blankly, even if she knew she couldn't tell with her naked eye, she simply thought about how similar the blood she was looking at and the blood that flowed on her hand used to attack were similar.

She saw something land near her. When she turned her head to look more closely, she saw it was more blood.

Then she paled, terrified, when she realized it came form where Naruto and Haku disappeared.

End Chapter 6

* * *

Author's notes: And that's it for now. I'm saving the next part for next chapter. It won't take as long as this one. At least I hope. 7k words, which is now the minimum I'll write for a chapter, isn't easy to do. Especially when I have doubts sometimes about where I'm going with the story.

Have something to say, good or bad? You have an idea I could adapt to this fic? Please don't hesitate to leave a review. I answer to all non-anonymous reviews.

And of course, don't hesitate to report any mistakes found via PM.


	8. Happy Ending?

Author's notes: That's it. I'm making no more promises on update. The only one I will make is that I will finish this. And after I finish this, I will only do one-shots. I just can't trust myself to have a update schedule.

This chapter has fewer words than usual, but I think we'll all agree it was way past time for an update. Anyway, on with it.

* * *

Chapter 7: Happy Ending?

He sensed it as soon as it surfaced. The rage, the bloodlust, the menacing chakra... and just now, the smell of blood. All of it came from the same direction. He took a look at his opponent.

Zabuza was now trapped by his dogs, with one arm disabled. It would be impossible for him to escape them quietly. He stopped his Raikiri, silently cursing the waste of his chakra, and turned to Meirin, still staying near Tazuna.

"I need to check on Naruto right now. If he moves, don't hesitate to finish him." Kakashi said, before going to find his student.

Zabuza decided to not move. If he even tried to shake off the dogs, the girl would be on him in an instant.

He silently wondered what was so important that would make Kakashi consider him less important than what he was checking. Then again, maybe the copy-ninja was right. He too sensed the abnormal chakra and the killing intent in the air. He knew Haku and knew that it wasn't him projecting this. From this, he could also draw another conclusion.

Haku got killed.

"_Damn it… What the heck am I supposed to do now?_" He wondered, thinking to himself.

* * *

It didn't take long for Kakashi to arrive at the scene. What he saw, however, made him pause and wonder what the hell happened just before.

The masked boy was dead. The amount of blood around made that clear. But Naruto, sitting on the corpse with his hands still changed into claws, was still ripping him even more, like an enraged animal. Kakashi snapped out of his shock.

"Naruto!" He shouted. He hoped Naruto could still listen in that state.

And he was right. Naruto stopped, surprised by the call. He turned to Kakashi, shock evident on his face as if he had just waked up. His fingers were turning back to normal and the red eyes were slowly returning to the blue Kakashi was so used to.

However, it didn't take long for Naruto to notice the corpse. Silently, he looked back and forth between the wounds and his hands, both colored by the same blood. Strangely, the mask was still in place. Naruto wondered, still dazed, just what kind of face was behind it.

Kakashi silently watched Naruto. He really didn't think he could have said something useful anyway.

But when he noticed that Naruto's hands were moving towards the mask, he didn't stay in place. The last thing Naruto needed was to see the visage of someone he had just… slaughtered. Unfortunately for him, he had started to move too late, since Naruto had removed the mask before he could reach him.

To his misfortune, he saw Naruto's eyes widen in recognition. The visage wasn't one that died in peace either. The eyes and the mouth were open, as if he was uttering a silent scream.

Kakashi felt the fox's chakra surfacing again. Flashes of blue and red appeared around Naruto.

"_This is not good. I have no idea how he met him and what happened, but Naruto didn't expect to see him. His mind is starting to snap._"

Before Naruto could even utter a single word, Kakashi moved again and hit a pressure point, knocking out Naruto. It wasn't the time and place to take care of that problem. He would just deal with it later.

He moved Naruto away from the masked nin's corpse and left him there for now. Doing so, he also noticed the mist was starting to clear up.

"_Either it was that boy who was holding the mist or Zabuza decided it was useless now. It isn't important now anyway._"

Zabuza was still at the same place he left him. China (Kakashi didn't know where did that nickname came from nor where Naruto learned it, but he had to admit it fitted her) was still with Tazuna, watching Zabuza in case of any sudden movement like he has asked. Searching a little, he also found Sakura, next to an unmoving Sasuke. Judging by her expression, Sasuke was dead and she also felt Naruto's killing intent, even if it wasn't directed at her.

"_Sasuke is dead, Sakura is in a state of shock and Naruto almost went crazy back there, all because we fought a high-ranked missing-nin and his accomplice, who we weren't even supposed to fight on a supposed C-ranked mission… Can this get any worse?_"

Then he noticed a crowd who wasn't here before. They must have arrived while everyone else had been distracted by Naruto. Judging by the number of weapons and the small man in a suit leading them who had to be Gato, they weren't here to help them out.

"_Great job, Kakashi_. _You just HAD to think that and attract more trouble, didn't you?_" He thought, silently cursing himself.

* * *

"What a joke... You call yourself a demon and this is all you can do against them?" Gato said, mocking Zabuza who was still held by the nin-dogs.

"You… what are you doing here?" Zabuza asked.

"You see, I never intended to pay you. And since you failed the first time you fought them, I decided to wait until you fought them again to act. That way, no matter who won, they would be tired after the fight and I would simply need to finish off whichever side lived. Rather simple, wouldn't you say?" Gato answered, laughing, before continuing.

"Too bad that boy is already dead… I had to repay him for nearly breaking my arm. But I see his body… Whoever killed him was more of a demon than you could ever be!"

"You little… Hm?"

Before he could go on, several poofs signaled the departure of the dogs, freeing Zabuza. The newly freed ninja turned to Kakashi, who just shrugged.

"It's not like you're going to attack Tazuna at this point, right?" Kakashi simply explained.

Zabuza said nothing. With his working arm, he grabbed his sword and let the edge rests on the ground, waiting. Meirin joined them, readying herself to fight. Kakashi moved to his side, a kunai in one hand and evaluated the situation.

"Well, this is a problem... We're only three against this large group."

"Wait, you're telling us that someone with a thousand jutsus have no way to fight against a group of thugs?" Zabuza asked.

"With the Sharingan, the Raikiri I wasted and the summoning, I don't have enough left for a big jutsu. What about you, oh Demon of the Mist?"

"Well, I do have enough chakra left, but since _someone_ so conveniently disabled one of my arm…"

"Would you two just stop whining already?" Meirin intervened, frustrated. "I'm still at one hundred percent, in case you forgot. Right now, I don't care how you're going to fight, but I just want to know who gets to kill the little bastard."

Such a declaration didn't go unnoticed by said little bastard. Trembling in rage, he pointed forward with his cane.

"That's it! Kill them all! The one who gets that girl will get a bonus!"

The thugs enthusiastically started to move, eager to get the bonus.

"Tazuna, please move back. I'm not sure if we can hold them all." Kakashi said.

The bridge builder nodded and ran to where Sakura was.

"I'll take Gato if you don't mind. He will learn why it doesn't pay to double-cross me." Zabuza announced, lifting his sword. Meirin nodded.

"Alright. I'll create an opening for you, so stay back a little."

With that, she rushed forward. The thugs in front who saw her grinned and lifted their weapons, happy to see the bonus running to them. However, just before the girl was in range, she stopped. She placed her forearm in front of her and leaped forward, a rainbow-colored light enveloping the limb. Anyone in her path was knocked over, unable to block her attack. When she stopped, she was in the middle of the group, exactly where she planned to be. Surprised, the thugs stared for a second or two before realizing that she moved inside the group and that they surrounded her. They moved to cut her down, but it was already too late.

With a card in hand, she declared her next attack.

"Extreme Color 'Colorful Light Chaotic Dance'"

She started to spin. A rainbow-colored whirlwind enveloped her as she was spinning, cutting anyone in range. Those just inside the range got lucky and only suffered minor cuts, but the ones right next to her weren't as lucky as they were cut to pieces, with no chance to survive.

Soon after, the attack stopped. There was blood everywhere just around her. The thugs were now hesitant to move, wary of the crimson-haired girl.

It didn't last long. Cries of pain from the front reminded them that she wasn't alone. Zabuza moved forward with ease, cutting anyone who tried to stop him. Kakashi stayed at the front to stop anyone who would try to kill Tazuna or his genin, using kunais and his taijutsu.

Zabuza didn't take long to get past the small army, his back covered by Meirin. Gato, fearing for his life, tried to run but it was futile. Not only Zabuza was faster than him, but there was nowhere to run once he reached the end of the bridge. He could only stare as Zabuza cleaved him in two, with a diagonal slash starting from his left shoulder. Both parts of him fell into the waters below.

The deed done, both Zabuza and Meirin fought their way back to the front, where Kakashi's exhausted state was starting to get to him. Most of the thugs discussed out loud what to do now that Gato was dead.

It wasn't turning out to their favor, however. As strong as she was, the sheer number of thugs caused some of them to get lucky, but light, hits on Meirin. Kakashi and Zabuza weren't much better, having started to fight them in a far from favorable state. The thugs appeared to be in favor of just finishing them and pillaging what was left of the village.

Luckily for the trio, a bolt landed in front of the group of bandits, halting them just as they started to move again. Looking from where it came from, they saw a large group of villagers, Inari leading them. Most of them were armed with crossbows, the rest holding spears.

The bandits were now rethinking their decision. But when they saw Meirin's savage grin on her face, the way Zabuza lifted his sword on his shoulder, ready for more and Kakashi narrowing his eyes at them, they started to flee.

The villagers cheered at their retreat. Kakashi sighed in relief, before checking on his genin. Sakura was completely different from her earlier state. The cause was Sasuke, who woke up from the state Haku put him in.

"Heh… I always knew Haku's heart was too soft." Zabuza said, knowing Haku had done it on purpose.

Kakashi nodded, relieved that he wasn't going to have to report a casualty on his team for their first C-rank mission. Still, he couldn't help but notice Sasuke looking back and forth at Haku's corpse and Naruto. It seemed like things weren't completely over with his team.

* * *

"So what are you going to do now?"

It was late. Naruto was still out, but Kakashi expected him to wake up anytime soon. Sakura and Sasuke were both asleep. The later was almost incapable of moving for now, the effect of suffering a temporary death. He wasn't happy about it, but there was nothing he could do. Meirin was still up, wearing clothes lent by Tsunami and mending her own clothes.

Zabuza had his arm bandaged and had been gone for a while to bury Haku. It was the least he could have done for the boy who followed him for so long. He was waiting outside Tazuna's house until Kakashi went up to him.

"To be honest, I don't know. Now that Haku is dead, I doubt I can achieve my dream now. Speaking of which, there's one thing I want to know before I leave."

Kakashi just nodded. He had expected it.

"I've heard about them before here and there. I asked myself how did Haku lose and I didn't really get it until Gato compared me to that blonde kid. He's one of _those_, isn't it? I never expected to meet one in my life."

"Kindly keep that knowledge to yourself, by the way. We don't want to attract trouble because of his status.

"Yeah yeah, sure." With that, Zabuza turned and started to leave.

"You're leaving already?

"I don't really have a choice. Word will spread about what happened here today and I don't want to be around when the hunters arrive. Farewell, Kakashi."

"Farewell, Zabuza."

And with that, Zabuza left.

* * *

Inside, Naruto started to move. He slowly got up, waking up as usual.

Then what had happened flashed in his mind and he barely resisted the urge to scream.

"Oh, you're finally up? About time."

Naruto turned his head to the voice. It was Meirin, who was almost finished with the repairs of her clothes.

"What… what happened after I…?"

"Gato showed up. He came with his own small army to kill everyone so he wouldn't have to pay Zabuza. Pretty stupid move on his part since he's dead now. There shouldn't be anymore attacks on Tazuna now. And by the way, look who's alive besides you."

Naruto turned as told. Sure enough, Sasuke was there, sleeping. However, it didn't seem to have a calming effect on him.

"So… That means that I… killed h-"

"Hey, if you want to talk about that, let's go outside. We don't want to wake the others up." Meirin said, standing up and walking to the door.

Naruto reluctantly followed. Once outside, he kept following until Meirin turned to him, leaning on a pole.

"Now talk. What's eating you?"

Naruto looked both offended and shocked, clearly now expecting her to ask about it this casually.

"You killed him. That's it. Sure, it sucks that if we had sensed Gato earlier, he could still have been alive, but there's nothing we can do about it."

"I just didn't kill him damnit!" Naruto shouted back, but not that loudly as to not wake up anyone. "I… I mauled him with my bare fingers! I… I wanted to hurt him! To rip him open! To take his heart out and crush it in my hand!"

Naruto took a moment to breathe and calm down.

"And now I learn I killed him for nothing? How am I supposed to s-."

"Shut up."

Naruto stopped. He waited for her to talk.

"Of course he did something to you. You thought he had killed your friend back then. And since you accessed the mean to make him pay back, I'm really not surprised you killed him."

"But… But…"

"Is it wrong to want to make someone pay for killing someone close to you? I can tell you at least that it's normal to feel that kind of rage. I can't really tell you about how humans react when it happens to them, but I don't know of any youkai who wouldn't get revenge."

"But Haku… He… He never deserved to die…"

"Huh? But didn't yo-"

"Meirin, I'll take over from here."

Both Naruto and Meirin turned to see Kakashi appearing. After a brief silence, Meirin just shrugged and left, leaving Kakashi to deal with Naruto. The older man turned to Naruto after she left.

"I suppose she had no way of knowing… But did you per chance meet that boy before the battle?"

Blue eyes looked in surprise at Kakashi.

"I've seen your face when you removed the mask. I wasn't sure if it was because you were surprised by how young he looked or if you knew him, but you confirmed it for me just now."

Naruto looked down, still silent.

"Naruto, tell me about him. What happened?"

Naruto sighed, before sitting down and looking at the water below him.

"I met him one morning in the forest, where I had fallen asleep. We talked and I helped him collect herbs that he needed. Thinking back, those must have been for Zabuza." Naruto said, with a small laugh before continuing.

"He commented on my headband and I said I was training. When he told me I already seemed to be strong, I told him about my dream. She asked if I wanted to become stronger for someone and laughed after that. When I asked about it, he asked me if I had someone precious."

Kakashi, by now, was sitting next to Naruto, listening.

"He had a sad look for a second, but then he told me that someone can become really strong if they protect someone precious. After thinking about it for a second, I realized he was right. He left after that, but told me he was a boy just before leaving. I was really surprised, since he had a prettier face than Sakura." Naruto said, chuckling a little when he remembered his reaction.

"Wow, I didn't thought you were that way, Naruto. I would never have guessed if you hadn't told me." Kakashi said with a smile.

"Hey! He had long hair and he was wearing a pink yukata! I bet even you would have been fooled!" Naruto complained, scowling at his teacher.

However, it didn't last. After a few seconds, he was depressed again.

"Zabuza must have been really important to him… Haku really shouldn't have died. But he's dead because of me."

Kakashi didn't reply to that. He preferred to wait to see if Naruto had anything else to add.

"Kakashi-sensei… The world is big, right?" Naruto asked, out of nowhere. When his teacher nodded, he continued. "People like that… like Haku… There must be more like him everywhere, right? When I was dreaming about being a ninja before, I was thinking about saving princesses, defeating bad guys and becoming the strongest… I never thought about how the others might be people with dreams and with people to defend."

"And that's a reality you'll have to live with." Kakashi announced. "We don't know how the future will turn out, but I can guarantee you that you will face people like that again."

"Yeah…"

Silence followed. The only sounds were from the water and insects active in the night.

"So, do you feel better?" Kakashi asked, breaking silence.

"Yeah, mostly."

"Mostly?"

"To be honest… There's one thing that still scare me."

"And that is?"

"You heard China and me talking, right?" At Kakashi's nod, he continued. "I lost control back then. And I ended up killing someone who never deserved to die and certainly not like that. What if… What if it happens again? I don't want to kill people like that."

"Well… I suppose you'll have to control your emotions. There's not much we can do about it anyway."

"Actually… There is something."

Kakashi was surprised, but turned serious a moment later. Naruto knew better than anyone about how serious that matter was.

"Yukari-chan told me that it was a shinigami who sealed Kyuubi in me. So… Another shinigami should know what to do to make it better, right?"

"Are you telling me that…"

"Yeah. She already asked about it. But she told me that if I wanted to stop any future problem the fox maybe cause, that I had a price to pay."

"What kind of price?"

"The problem is that Kyuubi's chakra and my own are completely different. Because of that, they clash and I lose control as soon as I lose control of the fox's chakra. The solution would be to change the nature of one of the two so that they don't fight anymore. But she told me it's almost impossible to completely change that, because we can't change how we are born. So that leaves room for only one option. Changing half of the twos chakras."

"Then… What's the problem?" Kakashi asked.

To be honest, he was a little lost. And he was ready to bet Yukari had to explain to him more than once what Naruto just explained to him.

"If my chakra doesn't block the fox's chakra anymore and the two flow freely together… How will that affect my body?"

Now he got it.

"And what would that implies?"

"Well… Being a half-youkai means being stronger, sturdier and have a longer life. She said the rest would be determined once I change."

"Then… What's the problem? Nobody would mind being stronger and live a couple of more years."

Naruto just shook his head with a half-hearted smile. Kakashi wondered what he got wrong. Being stronger wasn't the problem. Naruto didn't seem to dislike youkais either. So there was only one thing left.

"Longer than that… 5 years? Ten? Twenty?"

"More like a couple more centuries. Maybe even millennia."

Kakashi blinked, but did nothing else. He didn't think Naruto already knew what his statement implied.

"I'm surprised Naruto."

"Eh? Why?"

"There are many who would kill for what you could have. Yet you hesitate."

"Well… Even I can figure out everyone I know will die long before me. It's just that… I don't know if I'll be able to support it. And I don't see what's so cool in living a life that long."

"_I can think of a few who would disagree…_" Kakashi thought.

"So… What am I supposed to do? I don't want to lose control, but I'm scared of the solution. Just… What should I do Kakashi-sensei? How would be the best?"

Kakashi couldn't answer. Heck, what the hell was he supposed to say?

"Naruto, I can't answer that. A choice like that is too heavy to let someone else tell you what's best."

"Why not? Just treat it like a mission and think of the best way to complete it."

"And I told you I can't. The most efficient solution isn't always the best."

Kakashi got up after that, not even waiting for Naruto's reply. He already knew he had none and that this discussion was over.

"Go get some sleep. It's late and the mission isn't over yet, despite what happened today. Besides, it's not like you have to decide right away."

Kakashi walked away, returning inside the house. After a few seconds, Naruto followed him, not uttering a single word.

* * *

The next day went by fast. Team 7 and Meirin, minus Sasuke who needed to rest a few days to recover, went to the bridge. The people working there were more than the double of what they saw when they first got here. Naruto was far less cheerful than usual, but that was to be expected. At the very least, he was glad he could smile now and then.

However, Kakashi knew he would have to talk to the other two members of his team soon. He was sure that Sasuke wanted to ask him what the hell happened while he was out, in more details than what Sakura had told him. Sakura herself never stayed near Naruto when possible. The academy did prepare them to deal with death, but considering how Haku died, it wasn't surprising to see her act like this. In the end, both Sasuke and Sakura's reactions were understandable.

Understandable, yes, but he had to take care of it as soon as possible before they asked all the wrong question to Naruto. So when they returned to Tazuna's house, he asked Sakura to come to Sasuke's temporary room, one that gave him privacy and quietness while he rested. Kakashi only needed the privacy.

"Go ahead and talk, but don't be too loud. What do you want to know?" Kakashi asked, turning to the two genin once he closed the door.

Sakura looked like she was about to speak, but backed down. Sasuke took this opportunity to talk.

"What the hell happened between Naruto and that boy?" he said, not even bothering to hide his interest on the matter.

"_Straight to the point… No surprise here. But sadly for you, I can't tell you._" Kakashi thought.

"You heard from Sakura what happened, right?"

Sasuke nodded, still waiting.

"Well, that's probably the best answer you could get. I was fighting Zabuza, remember? I only saw Naruto after that boy died."

Sasuke glared at him. Of course he knew that. From what Saukra had told him, about Naruto suddenly becoming enraged and stronger at the same time, he could deduce that Naruto somehow endured Haku's attack long enough so that he could get a hold of his enemy and defeat him.

But even Sasuke was stumped when he tried to understand how Naruto could kill him with such… brutality. The wounds he saw looked horrible and he only saw them from afar.

Meanwhile, Kakashi decided to explain a little more, understanding what Sasuke really wanted to know.

"Honestly, I shouldn't answer that. But since I don't want you to bother Naruto with it, I'll tell you a little. However, I don't want you to ask Naruto about it after. He'll tell you himself when he'll want."

The two genin nodded.

"Alright. I can't tell you 'how', but I can tell you why. Sasuke, you remember taking that hit for Naruto, right?"

"I didn't protect him! My body just moved by itself!" Sasuke said, angry and looking away. Kakashi had no trouble to see through his lie. Heck, even Sakura smiled at his reaction.

"Well, after your 'death', Naruto pretty much snapped back then. It activated something dormant within him and no, I'm not telling you what it is. And then… Well, you saw the result. I had to knock him out once he snapped out of it and was starting to realize what he did."

"I see…" Sasuke said. In truth, he didn't understand. How Naruto becoming enraged gave him power? A bloodline? But if it was so, Kakashi wouldn't really have a reason to hide it.

"_Whatever. It's not that important."_ Sasuke decided. If Naruto unlocked a hidden power like his Sharingan, then good for him.

Sakura, on her side, wondered why Kakashi wasn't saying more. That rage, that murderous intent… It wasn't natural by any mean.

"Sensei… Is Naruto alright now?" She asked, for the sake of it.

"Hmm? Well, he's a little down, but that's to be expected. Just give him some time." Kakashi answered.

"Alright."

"Hn."

"Well, if that's all, I'm going. Sasuke, you should rest now. I'm pretty sure you'll be able to walk normally before the week's end."

Sasuke grumbled, but did as told. The sooner he could move normally again, the better. He hated feeling powerless.

* * *

Hinata was training at the team's usual training spot. Shino and Kiba had already left earlier today. Kurenai had stayed to watch over her training, but had to leave after a while.

After one last hit on the training log, she sat down for a break. She only wanted to rest for ten minutes before resuming her training until it was time to go home.

A gap opened in front of Hinata, surprising her. She calmed down after recognizing the person that came out of it. Whenever she saw Naruto after graduating, he was hanging out with her. She had learned enough to know that she adopted Naruto in her family.

She was glad for him. Naruto was overlooked by so many… It was nice to see people were starting to see him for who he really was. If only the same thing could happen to her…

"Excuse me, but you are Hinata Hyuuga, correct?"

Hinata immediately snapped out of her thoughts. She had almost forgotten that someone was here.

"Ah, yes… Hmm, is there something wrong?" She answered with a low voice.

"You could say that. I am Yakumo Yukari, in case you hadn't heard of me. I noticed that you had a certain interest in the one I adopted, judging by the time you spent looking at him."

"E-eh?! Yo-You noticed me?"

Mentally, Hinata wanted to smack herself. She wanted to stop that habit from the Academy of watching him, but it was hard. Especially since she couldn't help but feels better when she saw Naruto happy.

"Yes, I 'noticed', as you put it. And I wonder why you have so much interest in him."

Yukari, sitting on a gap, floated near Hinata and leaned towards her, waiting for her answer. Hinata's first reaction was to move back, but she found out right after that the training log was right behind her. With no way to retreat, Hinata had no choice but to answer.

"We-well… Naruto-kun is strong…"

"Strong? I'm glad you think that way, but he's not the only one who is strong. Is that really your reason?" Yukari said, interrupting Hinata on purpose and sounding like she was disappointed at the last part. It had the desired effect as Hinata continued to speak, poking her fingers and looking down, as if embarrassed to say it.

"Na…Naruto-kun is strong because he doesn't give up. He doesn't stop when he fails to do something. He always tries and tries again until he succeeds."

"Ooohhh… Now THAT is interesting." Yukari said, moving back. Hinata sighed in relief as Yukari wasn't so close to her now.

"But why is someone like you interested in him? Aren't you from a strong and prestigious clan, from what I've heard? Aren't you a proud member of that clan? Surely you must know people that are as strong and determined as Naruto-kun, right? Why someone as different and far from you?"

Hinata's mood saddened at those words. Yukari didn't feel to notice said.

"I… It's not really like that. Naruto-kun is what I wish I was like…"

"You wish to be like him? Why do you have a wish like that? Indulge my curiosity if you don't mind."

Hinata was hesitant at first, but she started to talk. After all, she already told her this much. And she genuinely looked interested.

So she started to talk, encouraged by Yukari. She told her about her clan. She told her about her training in the clan house. She told her about how she couldn't beat her younger sister. About how weak she was. About how, despite her training, she ended up failing the assignments given to her during missions with her team. About how she knew Naruto kept trying and eventually succeeded.

She told all, feeling a need to just talk about everything. When she was finished, she felt a little better. Talking about your problems really was a good way to solve it.

She wondered how Yukari would react. Perhaps she would understand. Perhaps she could help her. Perhaps she could –her mind dared to hope- help her with Naruto.

What she really wasn't waiting for was to hear Yukari laughing. Laughing quite loudly, as if she just heard the funniest thing ever.

* * *

"We're hoooome!" A voice shouted, catching the attention of anyone within earshot.

Indeed, Team 7, plus Meirin, had just returned to Konoha. After passing the gates, Kakashi turned to the group.

"Alright, you're free to go since I need to go make my report." Kakashi said, before leaving.

Sasuke simply started to walk back home, with Sakura following him. Meirin turned to Naruto.

"So, what are you going to do?"

"Well, Remilia will probably want to know how it went, so I should follow you back to the Scarlet Devil Mansion." Naruto answered.

Both of them went to Naruto's apartment to use the gap there. Since Yukari was sleeping (Ran made sure that Naruto knew it was NOT a good idea to wake her up) and Chen and Ran weren't here, they went directly to Remilia's mansion.

When they arrived, they noticed that the mistress of the mansion hadn't bothered to place anyone at the gate. They simply went inside. One of the fairy-maid greeted them and lead them towards were the mistress was waiting.

On the way, someone passed by them that caught Naruto's attention. She had long purple hair and wore pajama-like clothing. She was also reading a book while walking and probably wouldn't have noticed them if Meirin hadn't greeted her.

"Hello, Patchouli-sama."

The girl, Patchouli, looked up and finally saw them.

"Oh, you're finally back. Too bad... I was enjoying the peace."

Of course, this reaction surprised Meirin.

"Eh? Peace? But we didn't saw anybody at the gate. Didn't Marisa take advantage of that to come in more often?"

"Actually…"

* * *

_A good book and a good tea. That was a combination good enough for Patchouli to think it was a good day._

_Unfortunately, that black and white witch was due to come any time now. It has been a while since her last raid and she knew she would come today. In fact, it was now the time for it to begin now._

_Patchouli had her battle book next to her and Koakuma was already making sure the most important books were protected. And she waited._

_And waited._

_She was still waiting._

_Inwardly, Patchouli frowned. Was there a mistake in her calculations? She was so sure that the thieving rat would come today._

_A knock at the library door interrupted her thoughts. She turned as the door opened, showing that it was one of the maids who was here._

"_Patchouli-sama, you have a visitor."_

_Before she could start wondering who would visit her, Marisa already entered the room. The maid bowed and left, closing the door._

"_Hi Patchouli." Marisa said. Strangely, it didn't sound like her. In fact, she looked down._

"_Hello Marisa. May I ask since when you use the door to come here?"_

_The ordinary witch just sat at the same table Patchouli was, still looking far too calm for Patchouli._

"_Well, I did want to get some books, but when I arrived, I didn't see China at her gate. Where is she anyway?"_

_Patchouli was curious, but she didn't let it show on her. She merely answered the question._

"_Remilia sent her for a job. It may take some weeks before she returns."_

_Marisa actually looked surprised, finally seeming to turn back to her usual self._

"_What!? For real? What am I supposed to do now?"_

"_I fail to see how that would stop you. In fact, wouldn't it be beneficial for you that there is currently no gatekeeper?"_

"_But… But... If I can't even announce myself, what's the point?"_

_Patchouli was now confused._

"_You mean… Your reason for blasting the gate and her is the same as ringing a doorbell?"_

"_Well, yeah… But what's the point of blasting just a gate? And now because of that, I don't even feel like borrowing books like usual. What am I supposed to do now?"_

_Patchouli frowned at 'borrowing', but let it go. It wasn't like Marisa would call it anything else. But at least, it seemed her books were safe._

"_Well, you can read here, provided that you put the books back in place after you're done."_

"_Yeah… I think I'll do that. Thanks." Marisa said, before going to get something to read._

* * *

"And she came every now and then. I must say I enjoyed having those conversations. Anyway, I'm sure Marisa will be happy to see you again at least…"

Meirin wasn't fully listening to her. She was too busy being swallowed up by despair.

Patchouli left and they continued to walk. Naruto didn't have any idea of what to say to cheer her up, so he (wisely) kept his mouth shut.

Eventually, they arrived. The maid knocked on the door and opened the door for them when Remilia said they could enter. It was the same room as last time. The vampire was drinking some tea. Naruto noticed Sakuya wasn't around.

"Come, don't remain standing here. You can sit down." Remilia said, barely glancing at him. "You can return to your duties Meirin."

Meirin bowed and left while Naruto sat on the sofa in front of Remilia.

"I trust she didn't disappoint you?" Remilia asked, after putting down her cup.

"Errr, no. In fact, she really helped out."

"Good. I hope you have what you promised in exchange?"

"Of course, I always keep my promises."

Naruto took out the picture he took with him before arriving here. He handed it to Remilia, who only glanced at it briefly to confirm it was indeed that picture before setting it on fire.

"That is a good trait to have. However, you should make sure next time to not promise things that could… put your health in danger.

Before Naruto could even ask what she meant, someone knocked on the door before entering. It was Sakuya.

"She is here, Remilia-sama."

Someone else entered the room. She looked like Remilia, but they were some notable differences. She had blonde hair and wore red clothes. She also had a big metal wand with her. However, the most obvious difference was the wings, which looked like they were made of metal and had prism shards attached to them.

"Please let me introduce her to you. This is Flandre, my little sister."

"Hello!" Said Flandre, in a bright and cherry voice. She immediately turned to her sister afterwards. "Sis, why did you ask Sakuya to bring me here?"

"Well, I made this game I intended to play alone at first, but then I thought you would love to participate in it too."

Some alarm bells ringed inside Naruto, but he didn't move, since he had no idea what was it about.

The poor fool.

"Currently, all the doors to outside and the windows are locked, with the exception of the main entrance."

"Oh! Is that some kind of race with a goal then?" Flandre asked, excited.

Naruto was now worried.

"You see, a certain person managed to make me look like a fool a while ago. However, he had something against me that forced me to not take revenge."

"What?! Who did that to sis? Can I eat him?" Flandre asked, now sounding angry.

"_She still holds a grudge about that?!"_

Naruto was almost tempted to run away right now. Besides, that girl actually looked serious when she asked if she could eat him.

Oh crap, she was a vampire too if she was her sister, right? She was serious.

"Today, he abandoned that advantage. But instead of just dealing with him, I had this idea. And I also thought it was a good occasion to have some fun together as sisters."

"Thank you sis!! So, what is the game?"

"Well, that person must try to get outside by passing the main door. Our goal is to take him down before then.

"Oh, that sounds fun! Who is the target?"

Remilia would then have identified the target as Naruto, but he already did it himself by immediately starting to run away at the words 'take him down'.

Flandre immediately ran out of the room and started to chase after him while Remilia simply walked out of the room before following her sister. Sakuya simply watched them go.

Since Naruto didn't know the mansion at all, it wasn't long before the screams and a demented laugh started to be heard.

"Take that! Taboo 'Lävatein'!!"

"Ahhh!! Okay, that's it! Ninja Sign 'Kage Bunshin no Jutsu'!"

"Look Flandre! He made more targets for you."

Obviously, Naruto's hope that it could somehow delay them failed miserably, if the gleeful laugh was of any indication.

Sakuya just walked after them, using the same path they used and assigning maids to immediately start repairing the damages.

After a while, she saw Patchouli, who was looking in the direction the target, her mistress and her mistress's sister must have taken.

"Was that Remilia and Flandre? They looked like they were having fun."

"Yes, they were. It's so nice to see them having family-bonding activities."

"Sis! It's not fair! He doesn't want to stay still!"

"Ahhh! HOT HOT HOT HOT HOT!"

"Now now, Flandre. A game wouldn't be fun if it was too easy, right? Critical 'Heart Break'!"

"You're gonna pay! I definitely swear I won't forget this! I- Oh crap!"

"Taboo 'Four of a Kind'!"

End of Chapter.

* * *

Author's notes: To be honest, there are some parts I'm not really satisfied with. However, like I said, it's been too long since last update.

Let's tease you with the next chapter: What happened between Hinata and Yukari afterwards? What will Naruto decide?

Anyway, you know the drill: Review for comments if you want to. PMs for mistakes spotted.


	9. Weather Chaos

Special note: From now on, the author's notes shall only be at the end of the chapter.

* * *

Chapter 8: Weather Chaos

The following incident almost degenerated into an open war between the Yakumo family and the Scarlet Devil Mansion. As promised, Naruto went and unleashed hell at Remilia's mansion.

Or at least, he tried to. Because Remilia actually took his promise seriously and had maids patrolling the halls for any sign of the orange shinobi. And sadly for him, it is difficult to remain hidden when preparing traps.

Naruto believed he was a pretty good at escaping. After all, the times he got caught after doing a prank were few and far between. However, all that amounted to nothing in face of one person: Sakuya. No matter how fast he is, it was completely useless against someone who simply needed to stop time to catch up to you.

Most of the time, Naruto was simply kicked out, while being laughed at by Remilia. Some of the nastier things he prepared, however, had him sent to the dungeon, where Flandre spend most of her time.

In a nutshell, Naruto wasn't doing well, but he didn't give up. There was no way he would let Remilia have the last laugh. But he had to admit that it would be impossible for him to win alone.

So he asked Yukari for help.

The tables were now reversed and the mansion quickly became a chaotic place. Patrolling was useless since Yukari could bypass them all and only luck allowed them to sometimes catch Yukari and Naruto preparing something. But even Sakuya couldn't hope to catch someone who had Yukari's help.

Patchouli, who spent most of her time at the library, was neutral in the conflict, since Naruto never targeted the library (Yukari had warned Naruto that Patchouli hated 'rats' and Naruto didn't have anything against her anyway).

However, while she was watching the maids clean up the latest activated prank, one that needed much orange paint, a loud and familiar explosion informed her that a black and white rat was now also profiting from the chaos, which meant less resistance, to steal more books.

The situation was now unacceptable for Patchouli. Order needed to be restored, but she couldn't do it herself. Which is why she sought the perfect person to do it.

Reimu refused. The incident wasn't her concern and it wasn't spreading anywhere else.

Of course, Patchouli had anticipated this response. So when she asked again, she offered to make a large donation to the shrine as payment for her request.

Two hours after that, both sides were 'persuaded' by Reimu to cease all hostilities and it was the end of the small incident.

* * *

"I'm pretty sure I passed that place before..."

Naruto had explained his current dilemma to Yukari. After he was done, she sent him to see someone that could help him make a decision.

However, Naruto was now quickly learning why the place was called the Bamboo Forest of Lost.

"I could swear I just walked in a straight line... What the hell is wrong with this place?"

"Are you lost?"

"Ahhh!"

Completely surprised, Naruto fell down, but not without turning around to see who was behind him. Standing and looking at him like he was an annoyance was a girl with red eyes and long blue hair. She wore dark red overalls covered by charms and a brown shirt that appeared to be discoloured. Her hair was also tied with a charm that looked the same as those on her overalls.

"So? Are you lost or not?" The girl asked again, tired of waiting for him to snap out of it.

"Oh! Err. Well… Yeah, I guess I am…" Naruto answered.

"Tch… Couldn't wait for someone who knew around, didn't you? I suppose you were going to Eientei, right?"

"To what?" Naruto asked, confused.

"Eientei. House of Eternity or whatever you want to call it. Weren't you going to go see that doctor?"

"Doctor? What for? I'm not sick."

The girl raised an eyebrow at his answer.

"Then what the hell are you thinking going here and getting lost? Don't you even know how lucky you are that I'm the first to find you instead of youkais?"

"Hey! It's not like I wanted to get lost in the first place! It's just that Yukari-chan told me there was someone around here that could help me with something."

The girl's eye widened in surprise at the name, but she quickly regained her composure.

"Yukari. As in miss elder youkai Yukari? You expect me to believe you kid?"

"It's true"" Naruto shouted, angry. "She told me that someone called Mokou lived around here."

The girl took a moment to look at him, thinking.

"_Now that I think about it, Keine told me that she did take a human child in her family, for some crazy reason…_"

"Well, whatever…" She answered, turning her back to him. "I'll get you out of here first before we continue. I hate being interrupted by youkais."

As if it was the trigger, fairies appeared on her right. But before Naruto could do anything, she extended her arm and sent a blast of fire at them, incinerating them.

"Whoa…" Naruto muttered, impressed.

"Hey, you can gawk later. Just follow me, would you?"

* * *

Walking closely behind her (She told him it was faster getting out walking than flying), Naruto was thinking. He didn't know if it was polite or no to ask about it, but he was really curious.

"You're rather quiet compared to earlier. Got something on your mind kid?"

Once again, the girl surprised him, but only a little. However, Naruto decided he wanted to know.

"Well… Can I ask what are you doing with paper seals on your clothes and in your hair?"

"Why do you want to know?"

"I've only saw explosive seals before, so I wondered if those did anything special."

"Explosive seals? You can make them?"

"No, but they're common around my place."

"Oh? Mind showing me one at work then? I'll tell you about those I have if you do."

Naruto shrugged, not minding. He took one out and put it one a tree, one that wasn't too close to others tree and stepped back. He then ignited it.

The girl just looked, a faint smile forming on her lips.

"Nice. Must be handy in a fight."

"Well, yes, but they aren't that cheap either… So, what about you?"

"Ah, right. Well, those are simply protection against fire. You remember what I did earlier? I just don't want my pants and hair to burn off.

"But what about your shirt?"

"Well…" She started, looking at her own shirt, which looked to have been burnt many times. "It seems to be alright, so I just don't bother."

Finally, after a while, they reached the end of the forest.

"So, will you still be looking for the person you're searching for?" The girl asked.

"Of course! It's rather important."

The girl in front of him looked in the sky for a second, thinking about something.

"Alright then, I'll go get her for you in exchange for five of those explosive tags."

"What?! Why should I get your help to look?"

"Because I guarantee that you'll never find her without my help." The girl said, grinning.

Naruto grumbled, but eventually took what she asked for and gave it to her. She put them in a pocket, still smiling.

"Thanks for those. Well, I'm Fujiwara no Mokou, but just call me Mokou. What did you need to ask me?" The girl, Mokou, said without an ounce of shame whatsoever.

Naruto just stood where he was, speechless. Eventually, he managed to mutter something.

"…That was mean. Why didn't you say who you were earlier?" Naruto asked.

"Didn't know if I felt like helping you. Maybe I would have told you anyway, but after seeing those tags, I decided I wanted some."

"But…" Naruto asked, thinking. "What do you need those for anyway? You're not planning to hurt anyone, are you?"

"No no no… I guarantee you there won't be any permanent damage on anyone." Mokou said with a smile. Somehow, that smile made Naruto shudder.

"_Yes… Nothing 'permanent'._"

Far from them, in Eientei, a princess sneezed. She looked around. Was someone talking about her?

"So, shoot. What's your problem?" Mokou asked

* * *

"Ran."

Said person turned and faced her mistress, who had entered the room she was in.

"You should call back Chen if you don't want her to get herself in trouble."

Of course, she blinked, not understanding.

"Is there anything happening outside? It was calm like usual today."

Yukari simply smiled at her shikigami's reply.

"Don't you feel it? Something is already happening."

Ran didn't answer. She simply allowed her senses to see what her mistress was talking about. It didn't take long to understand what she was talking about.

"I see. I shall go immediately. Should I also get Naruto?"

"There's no need. He can defend himself and besides, it'll be his first time participating! He can decide himself what he should do."

"I see. What are you going to do, Yukari-sama?"

"I'm going to sleep. There's no reason for me to take part in the stage so early."

* * *

"…and that's it."

"Yeesh… That's certainly not a story you hear every day." Mokou commented.

She herself knew what a too long lifespan could do to a normal person. She did spend three hundred years killing anything that crossed her path.

But there was one major difference between what he could become and what she was.

"Why the hell are you still stuck on that decision? Just do it and be done with it. It's not like you'll become immortal."

Such a crude answer caught Naruto off-balance.

"Seriously, if you don't want to live so long, just go kill yourself once you think you've lived long enough. You're not going to become an immortal like me, you know?"

Naruto continued to stare, not commenting on what she just said.

"I mean, geez, was it that hard to think about it. In the end, you'll still die. You'll just take a bit longer to get there."

"A bit?" Naruto said, the first comment he made since she started voicing her opinion.

"Well, considering I'm over a thousand years, a couple of hundred seem rather short for me now.

Naruto didn't speak. He simply continued to look at her.

"Hey, can you stop staring. It's starting to annoy me."

"You…" Naruto started, putting a hand over his face. "I mean, I had no idea what to do because it's something rather big for me, yet you make it sound so simple…"

"You're just a kid. And you actually took the time to think about it, so don't feel that bad."

"A kid?!" Naruto said, feeling that he was treated like a kid. "I'm not a kid! In my village, this makes me an adult!" He added, pointing to his headband. "And how old are you to call me a kid? You don't look hold yourself."

"Around 1300 years old, actually." Mokou said, like it was actually normal.

That effectively shut Naruto.

"I know what it feels like to live a lot longer than your friends… Heh, no wonder she sent you to see me. But unlike you, I lost the ability to die."

"The ability… to die?"

"Exactly like I said. I'll never die, no matter what happen."

"But… But… That's… You can never, never…"

"Hey, don't feel bad. It's not your fault and you can't do anything about it. Besides, shouldn't you go back now? I don't know how long you've been looking for me, but the weather doesn't lo… What the hell?"

"Huh? What's wrong?" Naruto asked. All of a sudden, she stopped talking and stared at the sky."

She didn't turn back to him, but she answered nonetheless.

"I'm pretty sure it was going to rain soon but… Do you think it's normal now that there's not a single cloud around?"

"What wrong with a blue sky?" Naruto asked. He liked the cloudless sky and the bright sun… But if Mokou was right about the supposed coming rain, then he agreed that the sudden change looked a little strange.

For a few seconds, they were both silent. Mokou was trying to see what was wrong and Naruto just continued to look at the sky, not knowing what else to do. Then a scream shattered the silence.

It lasted only an instant, but Naruto clearly heard that scream. It was one of rage. Like someone did something unforgivable and that there would be hell to pay. But why did the voice seem somewhat familiar to him…

"Well, look like someone just pissed off Reimu… It's certainly not something that happen everyday." Mokou muttered.

Now Naruto remembered. He didn't really know her, but you certainly don't forget someone that could own you fast and easily when she was in a bad mood. The last time he had seen her was at the Scarlet Devil Mansion…

He was still annoyed that he was the first to fall that day. But at least, Yukari lasted the longest and a good time longer than that vampire brat.

"I think you better go home, kid. Whenever something happens, a lot of people suddenly get trigger-happy." Mokou said, bringing Naruto back from reminiscing.

"Ah… Alright then." Naruto said. She turned and walked back into the forest. Just before she entered it, she heard the boy thanks her, before he started to leave. She simply smiled a little and continued walking.

* * *

"Eh?! What do you mean, 'it's impossible'?"

When Naruto returned, he expected to be able to do whatever he needed to do secure the seal and be done with it. Then Ran arrived and when he informed her of what he decided, she simply told him he couldn't.

"Please listen." Ran started, remaining clam despite Naruto's outburst. "It's simply impossible to do it now. We need some help for that and they aren't here."

"Can't we go get them then?"

"It is not that easy. Yukari-sama informed me that we need the help of two persons. The first is the shrine maiden."

"Alright then! I'll just go and… Wait, HER!?!"

"Unfortunately, yes. And right now, she is searching for the one who destroyed her shrine."

"Oh. That explain what I heard earlier…"

Indeed it did. Anyone who knew Reimu knew also that if you messed her home, you were in deep trouble. So the person who destroyed her shrine had to be suicidal or simply didn't know her. Maybe both.

"So… What about the other person?" Naruto asked.

"Ah, yes. It should be possible to find her, but… Are you sure you want to go find her now?"

"Why should I wait?"

"Going out now means that you will certainly get into a fight. Will you be alright if that happens?"

Oh, right. Mokou gave him the same warning. But he didn't want to just stay here and wait… How would he get stronger if he never fought?

The mission at Wave showed that practicing for battle and real battles were two very different things.

"Yup! No problem! There's no way I'm just waiting here!" He announced, sure of his decision.

"Alright then." Ran said, accepting his choice. It seemed Yukari's prediction was correct. "The person's name is Komachi Onozuka. She always carries a scythe with her, so you should recognize her right away if you see here. She's…"

"Alright, I'm off! See you later!" Naruto said, as soon as Ran said he would recognize her easily.

Ran simply put her face in the palm of her hand. That boy didn't even wait for her to tell him where he could find Komachi. Gensokyo was not enormous, true, but it wasn't small either.

Well, it looked like Naruto was going to learn that soon at any rate.

* * *

It took ten minutes for Naruto to stop searching randomly. He landed at the edge of a forest, wondering what he should do. He didn't really want to go back and ask for directions, but he couldn't just search without an idea of where to look.

"Oh? It seems you're affected too… Stand still for a minute." A quiet voice said behind him.

Naruto turned and saw the newcomer. Pajama-like clothes and purple hair were the most memorable things about her. She also had a hat with a crescent moon on it.

Wait, didn't he see her before?

The girl wasn't even looking at him. Her eyes were looking at the sky, as if searching for something.

"Hmm… Clear sky, yet with a little breeze so that it doesn't become too hot… It seems you're a simple and easygoing person."

Naruto didn't get it. She told him to stand where he was, looked at the sky and gave him a personality based on the sky. And now it seemed she was walking away just like that.

"Hey, just wait a second." He shouted at her, making her stop and turn her head around. "Who the hell are you and what was that about?"

"Ah, right… I don't think we've met. I am Patchouli Knowledge. I reside at the Scarlet Devil Mansion."

"What? The vampire-brat's place? That... Oh, I saw once at that place, didn't I?"

"Yes, that place and yes, we saw each other once. And I advise you to stop calling her that."

"What for? It's not like she can hear me here."

Patchouli sighed. That boy could apparently have the same level of stubbornness as her friend.

"And anyway" Naruto continued. "Just where do you live in the place? I'm pretty sure I've seen most of it with Yukari."

"I stay in the library most of the time. And I thank you for not placing any trap inside, by the way."

"Eh? Seriously?"

"What is so surprising about me thanking you?" Patchouli asked, curious.

"No, I mean about you staying in the library all day. Why would you spend all your day in a boring place just filled with books?"

It took around five seconds for Naruto to realize he said something he shouldn't have. Not only did he feel the air around them… darken somewhat, the look that Patchouli was giving was now not a bored one, but one that clearly took offense at what he said and would make him pay.

"I think I understand a little now why Remilia can't help but get irritated with you around…" She said. She opened her book at a certain page. "It seems I need to teach you some manners."

And with that, she moved her open book, without even touching it, in front of her. A fireball erupted from it, aiming straight for Naruto. He jumped aside, letting it hit and incinerate a tree instead.

"Hey, can't we… Whoa!" Naruto exclaimed, grazing the smaller fireballs she was now sending at him, her intention clear. "Talk about this?"

"No." Patchouli said, before sending another spell. However, nothing came out of her book and Naruto was puzzled.

That is, until a geyser appeared under him and sent him flying. He landed painfully, but did not take long getting up, as the girl was preparing yet another spell.

"Alright, that's it… I'm not letting you beat me up any longer!" And with that, Naruto sent kunais forward, aiming for the magician. Seeing this, she turned her book to another page and used a different spell. She pointed forward and a bubble appeared.

The kunai hit the bubble, but it resisted. Only the last kunai managed to make it pop, but not without the bubble managing to stop that kunai as well. Seeing that, Naruto ran forward, trying his chances at close range. Patchouli sent more fireballs to try to stop his progress, but he grazed them.

Instead of going for a punch, however, he went for a slide kick, hoping to catch her off-guard. The blow connected and it was now Patchouli's turn to be on the defensive. Naruto immediately followed his first attack with punches, which Patchouli had a hard time to block with her book. It wasn't hard to see that she was far stronger with projectiles than in close range.

Finally, she had enough. Taking out a card, it took an instant for her to declare it before Naruto could stop her.

"Metal Wood Sign 'Elemental Harvester'" Large spinning gears surrounded her as she moved forward. Naruto, too close, was caught in it and was sent back, hurt from the spellcard.

And once again, Naruto was forced to graze like crazy. This time however, Patchouli wasn't going to give him a chance to get close again.

Making a decision, he took out a spellcard and declared it.

"Bunshin Technique 'Shuriken Trap'" Smoke appeared, hiding Naruto for a second. But when it dissipated, he was now holding a large shuriken and didn't waste time throwing it.

Seeing it coming, Patchouli moved to the side, grazing it and keeping an eye on the orange ninja. She was pretty sure she heard the word 'trap' in the name. She sent a fireball at him, trying to break the spellcard before the trap activated. Unfortunately for her, it was too late.

Once she grazed it, the shuriken transformed, showing it was another Naruto. He immediately hit the ground to send himself back at Patchouli, hitting her with a kick from behind, sending her to the ground. The fireball she had sent hit its target, but that Naruto dissipated, showing it was just a clone.

"Surprising… You used yourself as a weapon instead of a clone." Patchouli commented, getting on her feet.

"Hey, I'm a ninja! I'm supposed to be surprising!" He said back, grinning.

"However, I grow tired of this. I have others place to be and you are taking longer than anticipated to be put down."

"So what? Are you going to surrender? Because there's no way I'm going down fast." He replied, taking a stance.

"Actually, it's what I intend to do. Sun Sign 'Royal Flare'."

"Hey, w-" Naruto got cut off. His world was currently engulfed in red. Completely caught unprepared, he burned for the entire time the spellcard was activated.

Once it was over, he was face down on the ground, not getting back up. He wasn't unconscious, but a little part of him wished he was. That last attack HURT. Patchouli walked up to him and, kneeling a little, hit him on the head with her book.

"Stopping to talk in the middle of a battle is stupid. If you're going to do it, at least prepare yourself to move." She said, berating him.

"Yeah yeah…" Naruto said, not moving. He got it on the head again.

"And this is nothing compared to what I'll do if I hear you saying books are boring again."

"Alright…" Naruto answered, starting to move again.

"Good." And with that, she prepared herself to fly again.

"Ah, wait!"

"What is it?" Patchouli asked, turning towards him again.

"Do you know where I can find a person called Komachi Onozuka? I have no idea where to look."

Patchouli didn't say anything for a few seconds, wondering if she should answer him. Finally, she pointed a direction for him.

"She's usually is near the river in that direction."

And with that, she flew away. Naruto sat to the ground, taking a moment to let his body heal. After a while, he started to fly in the direction Patchouli gave him. Taking a look at his clothes, far from being in a good condition, he wondered if they would still hold if he had to fight again.

* * *

It didn't take long for Naruto to find the river. He landed near it, hoping that the girl he was searching for was nearby. But he didn't even have the time to start before a light mist appeared, covering the area.

"Geez… First the shrine maiden, now you. Can't I just have a break in peace around here?" Said someone, walking in Naruto's vision. She had red eyes and short red hair and wore a white dress with a blue vest overtop. She also held a scythe, with the end a little bend, making it look a little like a wisp.

What Naruto also saw was that she looked like she had been in a fight a little while ago.

"Are you Komachi Onozuka?" Naruto asked. Like Ran said, she had a scythe. But he wanted to make sure.

"Yes, that would be me. But why were you looking for me? Don't tell me you plan to kill yourself."

"Wha-WHAT?! Of course not! Why the hell would you think that?!"

"Thank goodness. That means less work for me. But then, why would you seek a shinigami?"

"Shinigami? You're a- ah, whatever. Ran told me I needed your help for altering a seal on me."

"A seal on you? Why would you… Oh, you're that newcomer I've heard about, right? Can I see that seal?"

Naruto nodded and did so, unzipping his vest, lifting his shirt underneath and channelling a little chakra to make the seal visible. Komachi got closer, examining it carefully. After a half-minute, she nodded to herself, looking like she just confirmed something in her mind.

"Yes, I suppose I could help, but…"

"But what?" Naruto asked, curious. Was there a problem? Did she need something?

"I don't want to. Too much work." She finished, turning away. Naruto face-vaulted, clearly not expecting that. But then he noticed that she started to walk away.

"Hey, wait a second! What do you mean too much work? It's important for me!" He shouted, angry.

"Maybe, but I'm just not in the mood for working right now." She answered lazily. She continued to walk away.

However, after a few seconds, she quickly jumped to the side, avoiding danmaku bullets aiming for her. She turned back, seeing Naruto angry and with an arm extended. Guess who tried to just shoot her.

"Oh, so you want to fight me?" She asked, now gripping her weapon in her two hands. "Are you sure you want to fight a Death God?"

"Well, if you don't want to help, then I'll MAKE you help me!" Naruto shouted, starting to run at her. Komachi blocked his strikes with the handle of the scythe, laughing.

"Tell you what: if you can entertain me, then I'll help you." She said. Immediately after, she brought her blade down, but Naruto jumped back.

One seal later, four clones rushed her, kunai in hand. Still, the number disadvantage didn't affect her a bit. She parried the attack of the first to reach her and swung her deadly scythe to cut down the second, who vanished in a puff of smoke. She side-stepped the attack of the third clone and shoot coins, her bullets, at the last one who jumped to try to attack her from the air. Unable to avoid them, he got hit and vanished too.

Naruto, the real one, watched all of this with a critical eye. She clearly knew how to use her weapon. Trying to fight her at close range would be foolish unless he created an opening.

And there was only one way to make sure an opening would be created.

"Ninja Sign 'Kage Bunshin no Jutsu'!"

Around ten clones appeared, immediately getting in action. A little over half of them ran at Komachi, attacking her at different angles, while the rest aimed and shot bullets at her. Blocking and dodging all of this would be quite difficult, which was just what he needed.

He ran forward, taking out a kunai and attaching an explosive tag to it. Behind him, the clones that were shooting bullets vanished, the balance between spiritual and physical energy destroyed after they shoot all the bullets they could. He moved just behind a clone that was also moving near Komachi. She hit the clone with the handle of her scythe, taking him out, but she wasn't expecting the sliding kick that immediately followed.

Naruto's attack hit and she fell. But instead of following with another attack, he jumped away from her. She was puzzled but she didn't miss her chance to get up. But why was he smirking? Wait, didn't he have a kunai in his hand?

Something exploded just next to her and sent her crashing into a tree. Now, she reflected, that was definitely something that hurt.

"So, changed your mind?" Naruto asked, still smirking. It seemed that good old tricks could work on everyone, human or youkai.

"Hardly! This just became more interesting!" Komachi replied, getting up in an instant and taking out a card. "Nautical Sign 'Flow of the River'!"

Before Naruto had time to react, a boat appeared just under Komachi and moved forward fast, like it was in a fast river. It slammed him and it was now Naruto's turn to crash into a tree.

He was slow to get back on his feet. He was still a little tired from his earlier fight and despite the fact that Komachi also had a fight just a little while ago, she wasn't showing a hint of fatigue.

"So, feel like giving up?" Komachi asked. She was holding her scythe in front of her in a battle stance, already knowing the answer that would come.

"Eh… Not a chance!" He replied. He once again sent clones to attack her and he took out another spellcard. "Bunshin Technique 'Shuriken Trap'!"

He aimed for her head. Komachi saw it coming while fending of a clone and ducked to let it pass harmlessly. Just as Naruto planned it.

What wasn't planned was her slicing the shuriken just after as the clone de-transformed to kick her. Naruto was suddenly glad that he made the clone the weapon.

Komachi charged him, scythe raised in the air. Naruto ducked under the first slice and blocked the second with two kunais on the handle. Right after, he had to drop them and duck again as the shinigami moved her weapon parallel to the ground, using Naruto's kunais blocking the scythe to her advantage, and pulled, trying to slice his back. He got back and decided to face her since she wouldn't allow him to put some distance between them.

Despite how well he had dodged the blows so far, Naruto couldn't keep up. The scythe's reach was too great to simply ignore and if he was too close, she switched from trying to get him with the blade to trying to get him with the handle. It wasn't long before Naruto was struck on the chest with the handle. Another blow and he was now in the air, helpless against the next blow.

"Requiem 'Double Pass Fog'!"

Komachi was once again on her boat. This time however, purple spirits followed her slamming into Naruto once she passed under him. He hit the ground hard and did not move. He was still conscious, but it was clear that he lost.

"Well, it was interesting… Maybe putting more punch in your spellcards would do the trick." Komachi commented, walking to him.

Naruto didn't bother to answer. He was rather unhappy to have lost to her. Evidently, Komachi had noticed it when she saw he wasn't going to answer.

"Geez, are you still angry with what I said? If I had to help people each time someone asked me, I wouldn't even have time to work."

No real effect. Naruto was still unhappy. Heck, who wouldn't if you were told that your demonic problem was dismissed with everyday's problems?

Komachi sighed.

"…Fine. I did say I would help if you managed to make the fight interesting. And that way I won't have worked a whole week for nothing."

"YE… Wait, what do you mean by 'worked a whole week for it'?"

"Well, it's like this…"

* * *

_The library was one of the last places she expected Komachi to be for slacking off. That she was also reading a book and had a few more at the side instead of reading was even more of a surprise._

_That had to be why she didn't just hit her and sent her back to work._

_She quietly moved behind her subordinate, intent on catching her by surprise._

"_Komachi, what are you doing?"_

_As expected, the shinigami was caught completely off-guard. Dropping the book she was holding and turning to her boss, Sikieiki Yamaxanadu, she expected a punishment and being sent back to work._

_Instead, Sikieiki stayed silent and picked the book Komachi dropped. A quick look at the cover told her that this book was on seals._

"_Komachi, why are you reading this?" She asked, in a tone that indicated that she wouldn't hesitate to use her mirror to know the truth if there was a single doubt on the veracity of her story._

_Komachi easily understood her tone and confessed._

_A few days ago, she was asked by Yukari to ask about a special kind of seal and if it was possible to make it stronger. Not for her, but for a human she found interesting. In exchange, she would give her the location of a place Sikieiki rarely passed by, meaning a place where she could slack off for a longer time._

_Wisely, Komachi didn't tell that last part to her boss._

_The Yama then asked for a drawing of the seal in question. Komachi had gotten one from Yukari so she wouldn't forget it._

_Looking at the seal, Sikieiki stayed silent. The seal seemed to be one for containing. But there had to be some flaws if Yukari asked if it was possible to reinforce it. _

"_I do not see any problem about seeking to strengthen it, but I certainly don't want this to stop you from working." Sikieiki said, back in her usual scolding tone, mainly used when she caught her sleeping. "So I will look into this for you."_

_Komachi was first surprised, but didn't hesitate to thank her boss right after for doing this for her._

"_So I'll give you the result of my research in a week."_

_That stopped Komachi cold._

"_A… A week?! But why that much?"_

"_Do not complain!" Sikieiki said, lecturing Komachi. "Working with seals means not making a single mistake! A week should be just enough to make sure nothing is wrong with I found!"_

_Despite this, Komachi looked more nervous than she should be? Did she need it soon? Nevertheless, she decided to use this chance._

"_And if I catch you slacking off during that week, do not expect anything for me!"_

"_What?! But boss…!"_

"_No buts! If it's important for you, then there's no problem with you working for it, right?"_

_Resigned, Komachi slowly walked out of the library, under the satisfied look of her boss._

_

* * *

_

"…And that's it." Komachi said, finishing her story.

"I… I see." Naruto said, not knowing what else to say. He doubted he had anything to say in the first place.

A week… It meant that Yukari asked her during his first stay here and planned to talk about his seal during that time. However, it was already too late when she went to give the results to Yukari.

"Anyway, since I doubt we can do it right now, just tell Yukari to get me when it's time, alright?" Komachi said. "Right now, I'm just tired and I wanna sleep…"

Naruto nodded and got up. He was too tired from the two fights he had today to wander around more anyway.

* * *

"…And then he left."

"I see. Thank you Ran. You can return to your duties."

Yukari, who had woken up just a little ago, felt like laughing. No matter what now, Naruto would end up staying in Gensokyo permanently. Now it was only a matter of knowing if it would happen sooner or later. And she intended for it to be sooner.

Still, there was no rush now. In the worst-case scenario, it would mean just waiting a hundred years.

And speaking of Naruto, she sensed him coming back. Using a gap, she went outside to greet him.

"Welcome back Naruto. So, did you have fun?"

It would seem like a strange question if anyone watched the scene. Naruto looked far from alright. His clothes were dirty and barely holding, casualties of his two lost fights. When he touched the ground, he had to take a few seconds to steady himself to make sure he wouldn't fall down. He also had a good number of small injuries.

And of course, he answered her his way, knowing what she asked about.

"Yep! And I'm going to make sure to win next time if I face them again!" He said with a smile, grinning despite his defeats.

Yukari smiled back, thinking that Naruto definitely was someone suited to live in Gensokyo.

* * *

The next day, they were at the shrine, which was almost finished rebuilding. For some reason, Yukari was looking at it oddly. Naruto was curious about it for a second, but then just shrugged. Maybe she noticed something different?

They were only four present: Reimu, Komachi, Yukari and him.

"So why exactly do you need to do it here? And why do you need me anyway?" Reimu asked, annoyed.

"It's just in case the demon gets any funny idea." Yukari answered. She gave a look at Komachi, who was checking the prepared ground for any mistake she may have made. "Chances are that he won't be pleased at all and some of his energy may leak out of Naruto. You simply need to take care of that."

Komachi, satisfied with her check-up, glanced once again on a sheet she held. On it were the instructions left by her boss, Sikieiki. She told Naruto to take of his shirt and to lay down in the center of the circle made of symbols that she just made. And to avoid messing with her work, she added.

"As for myself, I'll go distract the beast. We don't want it to make this fail. That will also reduce you work." Yukari said, preparing herself.

The fight with Ran, when she made her her shikigami, hadn't been easy at all. She was stronger since then, but what they were preparing would insure the beast will never be able to possess Naruto. And she knew how cornered beasts reacted…

"All the preparations are done." Komachi announced.

"Then I'll be going now." Yukari said, opening a gap and going in.

On the other side was a sewer. Of course, it wasn't a normal sewer, considering it was inside Naruto's mind. Yukari walked, letting her senses guide her to the seal.

It didn't take long to reach the cage. Taking a few seconds to examine it, Yukari found it looked rather solid. Yet would these bars hold against the full might of the Kyuubi if it tried?

The beast itself seemed to have noticed her as soon as she was into view. But it simply fixed its eyes on her, not saying a word. Perhaps it could sense Yukari's power?

Well, there was no turning back anyway. A small rumble signalled her that Komachi had started.

"Let's see what you can do." Yukari simply said, passing through the bars.

* * *

Author's notes: Finally done with it. I'm sorry for taking so long to update, but I just can't afford to screw up my exams. All I can keep saying is that I WILL finish this. Unless I... No, I don't want to tempt fate.

Change announced: I'm tired of the way I wrote name before. It already sounded weird enough for Touhou character's names and I finally had enough. So it's 'first name' 'last name' from now on. I also edited the previous chapters to reflect that change.

I definitely enjoy Scarlet Weatehr Rhapsody. So much easier to write Touhou fights like that. And much, much easier to adapt to the fights in Naruto's world. I'm not saying there won't be anymore danmaku fights but... Yeah, don't expect the next one anytime soon.

Since I didn't say much about Sikieiki, here's a small description of herfor those who have no idea about who she is: She's a Yama, one of the judge who decide if you go to hell or heaven or somewhere else. Her mirror, the one I mentionned, can see the past deeds of a person.

If anyone wonder why I'm doing that part with the seal, here's my reason: I just don't want to deal with Kyuubi. Not now, not later. Too much of an headache already without having to think about it. And no, it doesn't mean it's going to be Super-Naruto now.

Hope you enjoyed this chapter. As usual, pms for mistakes and reviews for comments. Next chapter will be the start of the exams!


	10. The First Two Tests

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Touhou.

* * *

Chapter 9: The First Two Tests

Half an hour later, it was over.

Reimu lied down, exhausted. Purifying was not something hard to do, but to do it non-stop for this long took quite a bit from her. She looked at her left, where Komachi simply sat down, looking fine. Then again, her job was the most simple of the three.

Just as Reimu wondered how long it would take Yukari to come back, she finally appeared with her usual smile. Despite her clothes being beyond repair and her parasol bent almost in half, she didn't show any sign of having a major injury. Yukari turned to look at Naruto, looking pleased with the result. The seal now had a square surrounding it, which was itself inside a circle with symbols all around it.

Speaking about the boy, the beneficiary of all their hard work was still sleeping.

"He just need to rest now. He should be up later in the day." Komachi explained, answering the unvoiced question.

"Then I should bring him home." Answered Yukari. "About the deal…"

"Don't worry about it. I don't really care after so long and I did promise the boy to help him if he impressed me. At this point, I'm just glad that I didn't learn that seal for nothing."

Yukari watched her leave before turning to take Naruto. But Reimu stopped her before she could do so.

"Hey! What about me! You said you had something important to tell me."

"Ah, yes. It should probably be best if you knew about it as soon as possible. It has something to do with your shrine."

"Wait, the shrine? There's something wrong with it so soon after being rebuilt?" Reimu asked, with a tiny hint of worry for her home in her voice.

"I'm afraid so. It seems that Celestial did more than what she was _asked_ to do." Yukari replied.

Reimu palmed her face with one hand, grumbling.

"Just tell me what Tenshi did…"

"Well, if things are left as they are, you'll have another person sleeping under your roof whenever she feels bored." Yukari explained with a smile.

"What?! She destroys the shrine then thinks she can sleep here whenever she wants like nothing happened?" Reimu said, raging, before she turned to Yukari. "If you know the problem, you can solve it, right? Can you do that for me?"

"Of course!"

Reimu's mind screeched to a halt. Yukari sounded far too happy for a reason. Unfortunately, it was already too late after three second.

Yukari snapped her fingers in the air quite audibly. Nothing appeared around her, but Reimu was certain that Yukari did something. One second.

Reimu felt that something foreign to her just appeared in air shrine. The most logical (and good) conclusion was that Yukari just brought it inside with a gap. Two seconds

The shrine went boom. Three seconds.

Amazingly, none of the debris hit them. Yukari took the still sleeping Naruto in her arms while Reimu was frozen in place, watching her home crumble and looking even worse than when it was first destroyed.

"Well, as long as it's not that girl rebuilding it again, there shouldn't be any problem now. Now I need to sleep after working so much. Bye bye!" Yukari said, walking through a gap to return to her home.

Reimu's left eyebrow simply twitched, the only sign that she heard what Yukari said.

* * *

A few hours later, Naruto finally woke up. He looked outside to see that it was late afternoon and the sun was slowly beginning to set down.

He heard something behind him and turned to see Ran enter the room.

"Ah, you're finally awake Naruto-san. Are you feeling alright?"

Naruto took a moment to look down to his stomach before nodding.

"Yeah, I feel good… Is Yukari-chan around?"

"Unfortunately, she's asleep right now. But she left me some instructions for you once you were awake. If you could please follow me outside…"

Naruto just shrugged and did as she said. It had to be related to the changes Yukari mentioned if he decided to accept to reinforce his seal. Once they were outside, Ran turned to him.

"First, can you name the person you hate the most?"

"Ehh? Well, it's probably Gato but why do you need to know that?"

"Simply close you eyes and think about what he did to earn your ire."

Naruto looked confused, but did as she said. Imagining the bastard in his mind, it didn't take long to remember what he did to Wave. He also wanted to blame him for Haku's death, but he couldn't. It was his own fault and he wouldn't run from that fact.

Realising that he forgot about Gato, he returned to his memory of the small village during Gato's reign. The hopeless people walking around, those who were hungry, those who begged, those…

"Now open your eyes and look at yourself." Ran instructed, her voice interrupting Naruto's thoughts.

He did as she said and to his surprise, his hands changed into claws. He could also feel that some of his teeth were now longer. And he guessed that if he looked at himself with a mirror, his eyes would have changed too.

In short, he looked exactly like he was that time when Sasuke 'died'.

"But… how? Wasn't the seal supposed to stop that?" Naruto asked, confused and fearful. If he became like this in the middle of the village…

"You're forgetting that you're still in full control of yourself. The seal was meant to adapt you to the inhuman power inside of you. Try to think of something that will calm you down now."

A few seconds later and Naruto was back to normal. He also made a mental note to go to Ichiraku as soon as he could.

"As you can see, your body changes to reflect your mental state. Whenever you really want to hurt someone, you'll subconsciously change. Today, I'll train you so that you can control those changes."

Naruto breathed in relief. He certainly did not want to have to explain that kind of thing to his friends. At least not now.

* * *

"I see. Anything else?"

The day was over and Naruto was already sleeping. After gaining some control over his appearance, Ran trained him to fight in his half-youkai state right after.

She was now giving her mistress a summary of the training.

"Nothing else Yukari-sama. The boy is already used to fight with his instincts a little. This should make it easier than expected to train him."

"Excellent. You can go now."

Dismissed, Ran left Yukari without another word. The elder youkai turned her head to look outside, gazing at the half-moon in the sky.

"And now it's simply a matter of time…" She muttered, gazing to herself.

And that was the truth. Sooner or later, Naruto would move to Gensokyo. At worst, it would be around eighty years, once his generation died. At best… Well, it that depended on what would happen.

Beside, she could always arrange things to speed the process.

But that would be for later. Too much too soon and there would be problems. For now, it was time to see how Naruto would adapt to his new situation.

* * *

"We're done for the day. I'll go give my report on the missions done."

That was rather sudden, but Naruto didn't question it. He would just go home early and train. His control almost slipped today…

He was rather nervous to meat the others after his change. However, if Sasuke and Sakura sensed any change in him, they sure hid it well. Kakashi took on look at him, nodded to him in understanding and didn't comment.

What Naruto didn't take into account was how easy he could be annoyed by Sasuke to the point of being angry. Apparently, Ran thought he only needed training for moments where he would be enraged. But it seemed that there really wasn't much needed to trigger his changes. He had to catch himself a few times and Sasuke did look at him oddly one time or two.

Well, that's in the past. Now he should just go back after a good bowl of ramen and… Ah right, he had to go see Alice first.

After the Wave's mission, some of Gensokyo's inhabitants expressed an interest coming here. Since Yukari didn't want to deal with them all the time, she simply let them with strict instructions to not do anything stupid.

That was probably why Marisa couldn't go yet. As far as Naruto knew her, she would probably 'borrow' any interesting scroll she would find.

"She said she would be at the library, so I should go there…" Naruto muttered to himself, before raising his voice, "right after dealing with the fake rock behind me!"

Three 'eeps' of surprise were heard before the 'rock' was lifted to reveal three young academy students.

"As expected of my rival!" The leader of the three boasted.

"Oh, Konohamaru. What did you want? And who are the others two with you?" Naruto asked.

As Sarutobi's grandson presented his companions, Sakura, watching the scene, saw a girl with short blond hair walking by, looking around as if she searched for something or someone. It seemed to be the second, as she approached Naruto as soon as she spotted him.

"Naruto, there you are." She said. Naruto turned around to see who just spoke to him.

"Oh, Alice. Are you done already? I thought you would be in there a lot longer."

"I would have, but there's absolutely nothing in there to help me with my research. Besides, there's no way I'm making some ugly puppet independent."

Konohamaru's group and Sakura simply watched, not knowing who it was, before Moegi approached Naruto and spoke up.

"Who is she boss?" She asked, curious.

"Oh right. This is Alice Margatroid. She's studying to try to create an independent puppet."

"Doll! Didn't you just hear what I said?" Alice interrupted. From her tone, she was angry right now, no doubt frustrated to have wasted a day.

"Huh? You're still playing with dolls?" Konohamaru asked, apparently lacking self-preservation.

Alice apparently heard him, as she turned to look at him. "Playing, huh? You want to see how I 'play' with them?" She said. At her sides were two dolls floating in mid-air, both wielding swords. They both had black and white clothes with long blonde hair and blue eyes. They didn't look dangerous, but the way they stared at Konohamaru without moving was rather creepy.

"Err… No. I don't want to. Sorry?" The young boy said. Apparently, the receiver of the stares was sufficiently spooked to apologize.

"Better."

"So that's what Konoha genin do these days? Play with dolls?" A new voice asked, obviously mocking them.

Watching them were a boy clad in a black suit who carried something large on his back and a blonde girl with what looked like a large fan, also on her back.

"First of all, I'm not a shinobi." Alice replied, not even bothering to hide the anger from her tone this time, "And second, just keep talking like that if you want me to kill you."

"Oh? And how are you going to do that? With those tiny fragile-looking dolls wielding toothpicks?" The unknown man replied, unfazed by Alice's reply.

Instead of replying, Alice simply took out more dolls. Most of them had swords and lances, but a few of them held shields some had nothing at all, hanging in the back.

This provoked a reaction from the black-clad man, who frowned at the display. The face that held confidence now a hint of worry on it, with good reasons. Even if he somehow managed to stop most of them, if one or two of them got past his guard…

"And you say you're not a shinobi? What kind of person learns something like that then?"

"It's an occupation."

"Who are you anyway?" Naruto asked, intervening between the two. "Your headbands aren't those of the Leaf."

"Wait, you didn't hear about it?" The girl with the giant fan answered, "We're here for the Chunin exam."

"Chunin Exam? What's that?" Alice asked, turning to Naruto.

"Basically, it's an exam for genin who want to get to the next rank." Sakura answered, "There are various tests to test the hopefuls on the different aspects of shinobi's arts."

"If you didn't even know it was time for this, you're probably way too weak to even think about trying it."

As soon as he said that, a rock whizzed past the boy's head, almost hitting him. However, from the force the rock had been sent, it was aimed exactly to miss.

"Aren't you guys getting a little cocky?" A new voice asked.

Everyone turned to where the voice was heard. Sitting on a tree branch and playing with a rock in his right hand was Sasuke.

"You're in our home and you pick on those that don't look much. You ever learned that appearances don't mean everything?" Sasuke continued.

"I agree. Stop picking fights in every place we go Kankuro."

Once again, everyone turned to see the next newcomer, including Sasuke. He seemed to be a young man who carried a huge gourd of sand on his back.

"G-Gaara!"

"Do remember why we are here."

"I… I know. Sorry…"

"Hmm…"

The boy, Gaara, moved to the ground. Sasuke did the same shortly after.

"So, your name is Gaara?" Sasuke asked, interested in the newcomer.

"Yes… Gaara of the Sand. And you?"

"Sasuke Uchiha."

"Hmm… Temari, Kankuro, let's go."

The three genin of the Sand village left at that. The rest watched them go.

"Hey Sasuke, weren't you going home?" Naruto asked.

"I noticed them walking up to you." The dark-haired boy answered.

"Oh." Naruto said, before continuing, "Should we ask Kakashi-sensei about the exam tomorrow?"

"He'll probably talk to us about it first, but that's not a bad idea."

"Hey Naruto!" Alice interjected, "How long are you going to make me wait?"

"Oops… See you tomorrow Sasuke."

Naruto left with Alice, followed shortly by Konohamaru's group, who remembered they still had something to talk with him. Sasuke returned home for real right after.

* * *

Sasuke's guess ended up being right and the three genin of the team agreed to meet tomorrow for the exam. Naruto was currently training outside of the Yakumo house, getting ready for tomorrow.

"A test… What do you think are your chances?" Yukari asked, watching Naruto train.

Naruto finished the clone he created for sparring before answering her, "Honestly… I'm not too sure. We're not even told of the tests we are going to do. But if anything is about fighting, there's no way I'm going to fail!"

Yukari laughed softly, amused by Naruto's enthusiasm.

"I'm sure you'll do well… or else."

Yukari's voice sounded way too ominous for Naruto to feel safe.

"Else… what?" He dared to ask.

"Well, it would obviously mean you've been slacking off. We would have to train you harder to make up for it. Perhaps I could arrange something with Flandre too. You always seem to learn better when it's important."

"…Please don't joke like that, Yukari-chan."

"Who say I'm joking?"

All that with a smile… Naruto already started to pray he wouldn't get unlucky tomorrow.

"And are you going to use your new… side during the exam?" Yukari asked, her tone turning a little more serious.

Naruto didn't answer right away. Apparently, this was something he still debated with himself.

"Do remember that a loss should only be acceptable if you put everything you had in the fight." Yukari said.

"Yeah, I know."

* * *

"I'mlateI'mlateI'mlate-"

Yukari watched Naruto run around his room, gathering everything he needed. Once he was ready, she opened a gap leading directly to his teammates. Naruto ran into it headfirst, not looking up as he tied something on him.

A colliding noise on the other side signalled her that he ran straight into a wall.

She closed the gap and opened another for her. On the other side was the Netherworld, in one of the room of Yuyuko's mansion. A television had been set up and Yuyuko and Youmu were sitting at a table near it.

"Yukari! We were just waiting for you!" Yuyuko said, greeting her friend.

"Naruto just left." Yukari answered, turning the screen on. If the modifications she made on it were good…

The image that appeared on screen was exactly as desired. It looked as if a camera was suspended on air and followed Naruto around. Currently, he and his teammates were about to enter the Academy, where all those who were taking the test gathered.

"What sort of test do you think he'll face?" Yuyuko asked, passing time until the main event started.

"I have no idea… But I'm pretty sure there will be fighting involved at some point. For a test to see if they deserve the next rank, they'll surely have to prove they can fight well a battle." Yukari answered.

"I see… By the way, Ran and Chen aren't with you?"

"They still have some duties. I left another television back home when they're finished."

Both of them chatted, waiting until the first test started while Youmu simply watched what was on the screen. They stopped once the clock indicated that it was time. The fact that a group appeared all at the same time in the room was also an indicator for it. The apparent leader of the group explained the basics of the exam then finally started the long-awaited test.

"_A written test!?!?"_

Naruto didn't expect this at all.

"…..What?" Yukari muttered.

He wasn't the only one.

* * *

Kakashi was bored.

It wasn't that long since he finally had a team and remade his schedule. But now that they weren't here, he found himself with nothing to do but pass the time with Asuma and Kurenai.

He could read his books, but where would be the fun if his students weren't here for him to annoy them?

"Kakashi."

Kakashi looked up in surprise. Just above him was Yukari, half of her body sticking out of the gap. She held another one with her hands.

"What is-"

"Just shut up and don't move. I want an explanation on this."

She put the gap on him. Or at least that was the way to describe this. The others two jonins, already surprised by the arrival of the gap youkai, now had the surprise of seeing half of Kakashi disappear, from the head to the waist. Yukari moved back to wherever she came from right after.

"What just happened?" Asuma asked.

"I don't know." The woman answered. But what should have been a simple response held a quite audible tone of coldness in it.

"Is there something wrong?"

"It's nothing."

Asuma just left it at that. It didn't seem to have something to do with him anyway.

* * *

"_That's a nice place…"_ Kakashi thought, looking around.

Having your body at two different places didn't feel as weird as he expected. From what he could see, he was currently either at Yukari's or one of her friends's home. He greeted the quite attractive young woman with pink hair (_'Sakura would probably get jealous'_) and the young girl with two sheathed blades near her, a katana and a wakizashi (_'A bodyguard or something like that? Wonder how good she is with those…')_. He felt something odd about them, but Yukari didn't leave him time to think about it.

"Do you mind explaining what kind of test this is?" Yukari asked, bringing Kakashi back to reality.

She pointed at the screen in front of him and now that he looked attentively at it, it displayed the exam room. He didn't take long to spot his charges. At the front of the room was the examiner, watching all of them write or think.

"_Wait, Ibiki is in charge of the first test? That doesn't look good…"_ Kakashi thought, recognizing the head examiner. But at least he knew the test Ibiki used when he was an examiner.

"How much time passed since they started?" Kakashi asked.

"Around fifteen minutes." Youmu answered.

"Then it should already have started." Kakashi said, examining the screen more closely. "Check some of them closely."

"…They do act oddly. Are they… cheating?" Youmu asked.

"Yes."

"Isn't that against the rules? They'll lose two points if they do that."

"Exactly. Why takes only two points when you should be kicked out immediately normally?"

"That's rather clever for a human to think of a test like this." Yukari said. "Still, why did it have to be a written test?"

"What better way to know if you're good at spying by forcing to sit, not talk and where you're always watched?" Kakashi answered. Yukari acknowledged his point and he continued, "Sakura should be good enough to answer the questions without cheating, I think Sasuke started to use his eyes to get the answers and Naruto… Naruto's panicking."

"What?" Yukari asked, checking for herself. Sure enough, he looked quite agitated. "Shouldn't he know what to do? You taught him how to deal with this kind of situation, right?"

Silence. Kakashi did want to answer, but he had nothing to say. This made him realize the mess Naruto was in right now.

"…Crap." He simply said. If his team got eliminated on the first test, Iruka would never make him forget it.

* * *

In the end, they passed, much to Kakashi's joy. He resolved himself to teach Naruto some information gathering tricks once the exam was over.

For Naruto, his bad day was just getting worse. He was almost late for the first exam then he spent the majority of it in an almost total panic. Hinata was acting really strangely, as if she was scared of him. Right after, the second examiner is a crazy girl who threw a kunai at him (Thank goodness for the projectile evasion skills he gained with all of his training) and who send them spend five days in a forest that they may never get out of.

On Gensokyo's side, Yukari and Yuyuko decided to not watch the second test. They certainly didn't want to only watch him for five days and it wasn't like they could expect action just when they would start watching in the middle of the test.

Naruto asked to keep the scroll. His reason was good, even if he hated it. After, who would someone else think had the scroll? Naruto or Sasuke?

Not even one hour passed before a freak tried to get him while he answered nature's call. At least the creep wasn't expecting a counter-attack in form of danmaku and Sasuke managed to get his arm while he was distracted.

But before they could even start to move after that, they were under attack again and he got separated from the others. The snake that was with him hadn't been too friendly either.

Kage Bunshin was the most awesome technique ever. He would make sure to remember to use it the next time something ate him.

And now the freak he found Sasuke and Sakura fighting again was way above the one earlier. The bastard just kept evading his shots. He was even smiling! With that and Sasuke's attitude, it was more than enough to change him, but he didn't care about appearances right now.

"What an interesting technique… Just how long can you keep it up?" The strange man asked, curious.

"I won't stop until you drop, bastard!" Naruto answered, not stopping.

But he was in trouble. With this many trees around, a Spell Card would be ineffective given the number of place to hide until the bullet rain was over. And his current barrage did nothing. If only he could… Wait, where did he go?!

His nose picked up the scent, but it was too late to react. The freak grabbed him with his tongue, of all things, and Naruto didn't like the way his fingers glowed. And lifted his shirt, send his fingers to strike his stomach… And stopped just before touching him.

But why would he stop unless… Wait, how would that creep know about the seal? Still, it seemed he certainly didn't know about the recent upgrade it got. Naruto was just glad he wasn't stupid.

He messed with explosive seals before, trying to get a bigger effect with them. Iruka's lecture after the explosion that he barely escaped made it clear that you don't mess with seals if you don't know what you're doing, or bad things WILL happen.

And considering his own seal involved the Kyuubi… Well, best not to think about it.

Further thoughts were cut off as his opponent knocked him unconscious.

* * *

"Urk… Where…"

"Naruto! Are you alright?" Sakura asked, immediately moving next to him.

"Yeah… Bastard hit hard but… Hey, wait, what happened?!"

Sakura explained what happened after he lost consciousness. How Sasuke fought Orochimaru, then the mark he left and where they were now.

"I see…" Naruto said, looking at Sasuke. He was still out, but he didn't seem in pain.

"Here's your bag back. I borrowed it just in case." Sakura said.

"Thanks" Naruto said. He quickly examined it to make sure he hadn't lost anything. The scroll, kunais, shurikens, explosive tags, pill bottle…

"Oh yeah, where did you get that?" Sakura asked, motioning to the bottle. "I've never heard of a medicine that helps you dream better before…"

"The Kochoumugan? Don't worry, it really works."

They sure did. He had to take them for a few nights after he killed Haku.

"Since Sasuke-kun looked bad, I gave him one. Was it alright?"

"Yeah, sure. If it can help him rest better, there's no problem."

After replying to Sakura, he took a closer look at her and noticed how tired she looked. "_Must have stayed awake all this time…"_

"I'll take over watch Sakura. You better get some rest."

"But… You've just woke up and-"

"Exactly. I'm alright now and you're tired."

"Alright…" Sakura conceded. "Just wake me up if something happen, alright?"

"Yeah."

With that, Naruto took over the watch.

* * *

"…What the hell?"

Orochimaru was a self-proclaimed psychologist. That was pretty much a requirement considering his work. How could he convince others to join him if he didn't know what the other person wanted to hear?

That part also helped whenever he gave a cursed seal to someone. It would bring out the worst memories someone had and the part of him inside it would convince him that his way was the good one to get past it. The high death rate of the seal was because of the person succumbing to himself. With the psyche crushed, the seal would then go out of control and killed the person.

Sasuke was better than what he expected from a genin. If his desire to kill Itachi was as strong as he expected, it would be what his mind would bring up and he all but knew Sasuke would accept the power of the seal.

So it was no wonder for him to be completely shocked when he found himself in a flower field with a single butterfly flying around.

What the hell was going on? Did Sasuke go insane and hid in well in his life?

Times like this were when he wished he could send a message from to seal to himself. He definitely had to know what the heck went on with Sasuke, but he had no way to know.

Well, at least Sasuke was pretty much guaranteed to survive. Still good to see a silver lining in all this insanity.

* * *

Note to self: night watch in the Forest of Death was very stressing. He had no idea if it was him or his enhanced senses telling him something, but he felt observed. And he had to endure it for a long time.

So he blamed his nerves when he got jumpy and shot a bullet at a squirrel that appeared in his sight.

Out of his vision, three genin decided that it was useless to wait any longer. The one awake didn't seem too tired after his watch and it seemed he knew he was watched.

Naruto turned his head, sensing their arrival along with their hostility just as he was about to wake Sakura up.

"So… Mind waking up Sasuke? We want to fight against him." The leader of the group asked. Naruto remembered he was the one with the weird arm.

"And if I don't want to?" Naruto answered, settling into a fighting stance. He made a clone to wake up Sakura, not wanting to turn his back to the Sound's shinobis to do it himself.

"Well, I suppose we'll have to kill you then. Zaku?"

The other boy, Zaku, raised his arms and aimed at Naruto and the now awake Sakura. If it was a ranged attack, it would be easy to avoid from such a distance… But Sasuke was still unconscious behind them. That left Naruto with only one option.

"Zank- What the?!"

All three of them had to jump out of the way of the spread shot of danmaku Naruto made. Naruto didn't stop and sent more shots. They decided to rush him, but not before the leader sent an explosive tag at what had been a trap on the ground, to make sure his two companions didn't fall in it.

Naruto cursed as they came at him and Sakura from different directions. He couldn't afford to let the guy with the strange arm close, but if he focused on him, then Zaku would be free to fire on him. And there was still their third member. A Spell Card could maybe take out one, but that would leave him open.

"Leaf Spinning Wind!"

Before Naruto was about to shot one and hope his luck held out, someone else intercepted them and kicked them away. He settled himself between the two groups. Naruto immediately recognized him.

"Have no fear, Rock Lee is here!" Lee announced.

"Tch! Another Leaf…" The leader of the Sound group said, pulling up his sleeve to reveal the hidden weapon underneath.

"Lee! Why are you here?" Sakura asked, surprised to see a member of another team helping them.

"I told you: I will always protect you."

Naruto took position at Lee's right, eyeing the three opponents in front of them.

"Anyone have a plan?" Naruto asked.

"We should take them down fast. I really don't want to see more of their abilities." Sakura answered, a little unsure about their situation.

"Sakura-chan is right. We can't let them gain an advantage on us. But it won't be easy, especially for that guy with the device on his arm." Lee said.

Naruto raced his mind for a plan. They couldn't even afford a major injury so soon in the test. But how could they fight that guy without risking an injury? Sakura was out of the question, he wasn't sure if Lee could dodge every blow and he... Wait, that was it!

"I got it! Lee, can you take the one with the holes in his hands? I'll take the one with the metal arm."

"Alright, but why?" Lee asked, eyes also focused on the foes.

"I can use clones to take him on. They'll still be affected by whatever that thing does, but I won't be disabled at and I can support them from a distance."

"I see. You have a good point." Lee answered.

"Sakura, can you take care of the girl?"

"Y-Yes!" Sakura answered, a little surprised when Naruto suddenly said her name.

"Alright, let's do this!" Naruto announced. All three of them rushed to their opponent.

* * *

"What the… Since when did Naruto get so good?" Chouji asked, eyes fixed on the fight.

"Shh! Don't talk too loudly. You want them to notice us or what?" Ino whispered to her teammate.

They stumbled by chance on the fight. From what they could see, Sasuke was down for some reason and Naruto and Sakura were fighting the team from Sound with the help of another Leaf genin.

The one they didn't know was doing pretty well. Whenever his opponent tried to blast him, he would accelerate and move out of the way before attacking again. It was simply a question of time until he was down.

Sakura managed to hold out. She had some wounds caused by the needles, but she didn't mind them and moved closer to fight her hand to hand.

But Naruto was the one that impressed them the most. He sent clones, solid ones, whenever some of them got destroyed by the strange weapon on the Sound genin's arm and shot energy bullets at him whenever he could.

Still, it was a stalemate. The clones were too fragile to hold against the vibrations and Naruto's opponent made sure to not get hit by the bullets, not knowing if they had anything special or not.

Still, the advantage was on the Leaf side, so they simply continued to watch.

* * *

"I hate that damn arm..."

His fight had been very frustrating. Just a mock punch would make the strange weapon activate and destroy the clones nearby. He had no idea how much damage half-hearted punches did, but that was enough for the far too fragile clones. How was he supposed to make sure his bullets hit him if he couldn't stop him from evading?

A crash made him look sideway for a second. It seemed Lee landed a good kick on Zaku and sent him crashing into a tree.

He had a Spell Card ready, but it would be useless to use it now. He needed a something to distract him or he would dodge…

"Lee, send him in the air!" Sakura shouted.

Naruto didn't know what was going on, but his opponent heard the shout. He shot bullets at him, knowing Lee needed this opening.

Lee didn't miss the opportunity and got him right as he evaded Naruto's attack. Sakura threw a kunai a tree right after, cutting a string and sent a tree prepared earlier at the airborne opponent.

"Useless!" The boy shouted. He touched the tree and made a sign, causing the tree to explode without doing any damage.

"You think so?" A voice asked above him. He looked up in horror to see the orange-clad genin above him with a burning card in his hands.

"Kage Bunshin Sign 'Cluster Shot'!"

Clones appeared all around Naruto and all of them immediately shot bullets in the same direction, aiming at the Sound genin. He got pelted by the bullet ran and was sent crashing to the ground. He didn't get back up, now unconscious.

"We did it!" Naruto shouted, once he confirmed his opponent. He found their scroll after a quick search.

"It's the one we need!" Sakura said, noticing the black color.

"That was a spectacular attack Naruto-kun." Lee said. "You're definitely stronger than what I thought."

"Thanks, but we would have been in trouble without you." Naruto answered, before frowning and looking around. "What happened to the girl?"

"Lee surprised her, so I managed to land a knock-out hit." Sakura said.

"So all we have to do is to wait for Sasuke and go to the tower… By the way Lee, did you get separated from your team?"

"Huh? No, I…" Lee started to say, before realizing something. "Ahhh! I'm late! We were scouting and I'm supposed to be back now!"

"Well… We're alright so you should go now."

"Yes! Naruto-kun, Sakura-chan, we shall see each other at the tower!" Lee said, before going full speed to the meeting spot his team chose.

* * *

Sasuke woke up not long after that. He scared the hell out of Naruto and Sakura because of the cursed seal spreading on his body, but calmed down right after.

Even if he wasn't completely alright, he agreed with Naruto to rush to the tower. With the two scrolls, they were a huge target for any other team that would notice them.

With clones acting as scouts and Naruto carrying Sasuke on his back, it didn't take too long to reach the tower. Luckily, they didn't meet any other team.

And as Iruka told them once the teacher was summoned, they completed the second test. With some days to spare, they could rest and take care of any wound they had.

They agreed to first rest then find someone who could take a look at Sasuke's strange mark, despite the Uchiha's protests that he was alright. Naruto shut him up by asking him if he wanted a side-effect to come bite him in the ass during a fight. They were just about to enter the room assigned to them when another team came into view. It was Gai's team and they also spotted them.

"Sakura-chan, Naruto-kun, Sasuke-kun! It's good to see you here!" Lee said, greeting them with a smile.

"Hey Lee! When did you guys arrive?" Naruto asked.

"About an hour ago."

"Lee told us he helped you." The boy with white eyes said. "But I frankly don't see why you bothered coming here if you relied on luck for the first two tests."

"What the hell did you say?" Naruto answered.

"It is as I said. You got lucky and I doubt you'll pass the next test." He said, leaving right after that.

Naruto never thought he would meet someone that got on his nerves faster than Sasuke did.

"Please don't take it too hard... Neji's always like that." The girl next to Lee said. "By the way, I don't think we've met before. I'm Tenten. You already know Lee, and that was Neji Hyuuga just now."

"Nice to meet you. I'm Sakura Haruno."

"Naruto Uzumaki Yakumo."

"Sasuke Uchiha."

"I don't know what Neji is thinking, but I know there's no way to pass the second test just on luck." Tenten continued.

"Thanks. And if Lee is a good indication, I'm sure you got some awesome skills too."

Sasuke didn't say anything except his name, but he was already tired of the conversation. He woke up with something strange after a strange, yet soothing dream, he just did a mad dash for the tower with his teammates and he just wanted to rest now.

He opened the door and entered, followed immediately by Sakura when she saw him leave. Naruto excused himself too after explaining that they needed the rest.

* * *

"We should take care of it immediately." Kakashi said.

They found their teacher at the tower when they woke up. He congratulated them on the test and he asked to check for the mark on Sasuke, apparently already aware of the situation. He explained about how it reacted whenever Sasuke used chakra.

However, Sasuke wasn't too happy with the fact that he may miss the start of the next test if he didn't recover fast enough.

"But Sasuke-kun..."

"Can't it wait? I can still fight."

"But what would happen if the next test is about fighting? If it's teams versus teams and we face Lee's team, how do you plan to fight? Lee will kick your ass in taijutsu and the rest of your arsenal will be disabled." Naruto said, bluntly.

Kakashi really wanted to tell them the next test would be in one month unless too many teams passed the second test, but he wasn't allowed to. He just hoped Sasuke would stop being stubborn.

Thankfully, Sasuke seemed to grimace at what Naruto said, and reluctantly agreed. The image of Lee defeating him second time and with an audience this time seemed to have convinced him.

"It should only take a day or two to recover since you didn't use too much chakra anyway." Kakashi said, before leading Sasuke to a special room.

Naruto and Sakura left without having much to do. There wasn't any room to train and Naruto refused to sleep any longer, having far too much stamina to burn. He decided to try working on his Spell Cards and Sakura left to talk with others.

Soon, it would be time for the next test. Sakura, Sasuke and Naruto refused to be stopped now after coming so far.

* * *

Author's notes: Finally, the long awaited new chapter, made by the flames of revival that were lit after my writing troubles that led me to discontinue this for around a day.

I'm not going to be working on the next chapter right away. First, I will start the new project I mentionned, with Suika as the opening. I also need to continue my Persona 4 fic and another P4 project of mine.

As for next chapter, how should the preliminay go? Same fights or let's mix it up a little? If you have suggestions, don't hesitate!

As always, if you spot errors, send them by PM. For comments, reviews. But if you can't review, a PM is fine then.


	11. Start of Preliminaries

Sasuke was not happy.

First, putting the cursed seal into control, as his teacher put it, knocked him out for three days. This by itself wasn't too bad since he would be up for the third exam. But not even one hour after that, he was told, like everyone who passed, that they would have to hold preliminaries to thin their numbers. Sasuke could feel that his body wasn't ready for that, the consequence of being in a bed for three days. And to top it all, he was chosen for the first fight, against Chouji.

Clearly, he had pissed off too many people in another life, because this exam was nothing but hell for him since the second exam started.

As soon as the start of the fight was announced, Sasuke had activated his Sharingan. He wanted this done as soon as possible and he wasn't going to take any chance. Letting Chouji do the first move, he saw him on the other side executing one of his family's jutsu and growing into a giant ball of destruction. A giant ball of destruction that then started to roll fast towards him for a very obvious purpose.

Muttering a curse, Sasuke jumped sideway to avoid him. Chouji turned to his right and faced Sasuke again in another attempt to flatten him, but the dark-haired genin was ready this time. Placing himself closer to the wall, he jumped away at the last second, making Chouji roll himself into the wall.

"Chouji! Give up or you get a fireball, you have two seconds!" Sasuke shouted, already making the first handseal.

"Wha-!? No, wait, I give up, I give up!!" Chouji screamed. Apparently, the idea of ending like grilled meat made the decision quite easy for him.

After the jonin declared his victory, Sasuke climbed the stair to join his team. Naruto and Sakura congratulated him and Kakashi simply smiled at him, if his eye was any indication. That didn't stop him from glaring at his teacher.

"Now what did I do to deserve that look?" Kakashi asked, still smiling.

"You know exactly why. What would have happened if I hadn't woken up?" Sasuke said.

"Well, you would have been disqualified since you wouldn't have been able to fight. But since you're up and you won your fight, there's no problem right?"

Sasuke was still grumpy, but he didn't answer. The next match was announced and Shino and one of the Sound genin, Zaku, were already ready to fight. He always wondered how the Aburame boy fought and he knew it would be interesting to see.

* * *

"Now this is what I wanted to see!" Yukari cheered, comfortably seated in front of the television with a cup of sake in hand.

On the screen, Shino already had trapped Zaku. He simply waited for him to either give up or attack, which would give him the victory no matter what happened.

"I agree." Yuyuko said, also with her own cup. "It is nice to see others fight when you don't know what to expect. The outcome can even be a sudden surprise."

Just as she finished speaking, Zaku's arms exploded as he tried to attack. Shino wasted no time knocking him out right after that.

"Was it really necessary to destroy his arms?" Youmu asked while rubbing one of her arms, a bit afraid of the idea of one of them receiving the same fate as Shino's opponent on the screen.

"What better way to ensure victory than to make sure your opponent cannot attack?" Yukari commented, not disturbed by the sight at all.

"Aww, don't worry Youmu. If you lose an arm someday, I'll find someone to reattach it for you." Yuyuko said.

It wasn't as comforting as Yuyuko hoped for, if Youmu's shudder was any indication.

* * *

"Next match: Kankuro against Kin." The examiner announced. The two genin announced walked into the arena, face to face with each other.

"Oh, him…" Naruto, remembering the first encounter with the team from Suna, "What does he carry on his back anyway? If it's a weapon, shouldn't he have taken it out?"

"That means he has a plan." Kakashi answered. "Not all weapons are as obvious as a kunai or a shuriken."

It was as Kakashi said. Kin tried to distract him with a bell tied on one of her senbon that caused him to look behind and she immediately plunged a kunai into him. Right after she realized there was no blood, 'Kankuro' released a gas that put her to sleep.

"Too easy." Kankuro stated as he revealed himself.

The next match, Misumi Tsurugi against Kiba Inuzuka, wasn't as short, but it was another case of underestimation. Misumi, after announcing he wouldn't go easy on him even if they were from the same village, immediately attacked and used his strange bloodline to ensnare Kiba with his limbs. As he told Kiba to surrender or else, Akamaru, completely forgotten by the older shinobi, took the occasion to bite him in the ass. With Misumi's grip on him relaxed as he screamed in pain, Kiba shook himself free and said he wouldn't go easy on him either. That statement was followed by a rather savage beating that ended when Misumi became unconscious.

"Fifth match: Tenten versus Naruto."

"I didn't think I would fight you now…" Tenten commented, facing Naruto in the arena. "You won't go easy because I'm a girl, right?"

"I got beaten up by way too many girls to even think of that!" Naruto retorted, sliding a leg behind him.

"Begin!" Hayate announced.

"Well, I won't feel bad for going all-out either then!" Tenten shouted, immediately jumping back and sending a volley of kunais aimed at Naruto.

Instead of jumping back, Naruto took a kunai from his pouch and threw it. It impacted with one of Tenten's own kunai and both were knocked aside. Naruto himself didn't move after the throw, letting two kunais nips his clothes. The rest of the volley struck the floor.

Tenten, with her hands full of shurikens, was surprised to say the least.

"Why didn't you jump back?!"

"And let myself open for your next attack? No way." Naruto answered. "I'm used to projectiles. There's no way just a few kunais will make me move."

"_There goes one plan."_ Tenten thought. The first attack was meant to scare him by aiming for an area instead of just Naruto. As soon as he jump, becoming defenseless in the air, she would have sent another volley, all aimed for him this time. However, he immediately saw the weapon that would hurt him and knocked it aside, nullifying the whole attack. And what bothered her most was the speed at which he reacted.

His claim wasn't a bluff: it was the complete truth.

"So I just need more, right?" Tenten asked, taking out a scroll. "As you wish then."

"Of course, I'm not just going to stand, you know?" Naruto remarked as Tenten's went to unfold the scroll.

"Oh really?" Tenten asked.

Naruto's hand formed the seal of his favorite technique. "Yes really."

Both grinned for a moment. Then all hell broke loose.

* * *

"What the heck? Since when was Naruto so good?" Shikamaru asked, honestly surprised.

He wasn't the only one. On the arena, Naruto sidestepped, spun and ducked around almost everything thrown at him before returning fire. Then he would stop, make clones and run straight at his opponent while his clones fired at her. Tenten would then be forced to jump back and evade the energy bullets aimed for her before starting to throw weapons again.

Sasuke observed all of it with the Sharingan. What his eyes told him surprised him a little.

"Kakashi-sensei, is he really doing what I'm thinking?" He asked, not sure what to think of his observation.

"You mean anticipating the trajectory of all the projectiles? Yes, that's what he's doing." Kakashi answered.

"You mean he can see where they're all going to hit?" Sakura asked, surprised. She knew Naruto had gotten better, but to that point… "But he's not even looking at them all the time, so how does he do it?"

"You know how Naruto uses his own projectiles, right?" Kakashi asked. At Sakura's nod, he continued. "Think about it for a second: if someone taught it to him and Naruto trained with that person, how long do you think it would take to be used to dealing with long range attacks?"

"That's…"

"Naruto doesn't observe: he doesn't have the time to. He's instinctively glancing at every object going in his direction and the path they'll take. Then he'll dodge with minimal effort to save his stamina and still be able to react to something sudden."

"That's… completely crazy." Sakura muttered. "And he's doing it like it's so easy."

"Well, his opponent can only throw so many weapons at a time too. If she had the same ability as Naruto, maybe it would be a different story." Kakashi added.

Nearby, Tenten's team was also discussing the current fight.

"Gai-sensei… Can Tenten win?" Lee muttered, observing the fight without his usual enthusiasm.

"I cannot say. Naruto has the advantage in the number of projectiles and stamina. To top it all, he can send his clones to harass her and still attack from a distance." Gai said. "She needs to find a hole in his offense if she wants to win."

That part, however, was far easier said than done. While Tenten was fast, thanks to Gai's training, Naruto mostly attacked the area she was in. Already, she took a fair share of hits.

On the other hand, Naruto seemed to have no trouble evading the thrown weapons. Even when he let them pass dangerously close, his face didn't show any sign of shock. And he certainly didn't have to worry about running out of projectiles, as far as Gai knew.

Another part of his mind started to word a request to the Hokage for permission to teach Tenten the Kage Bushin technique. She would never be able to create as many as Naruto, but the boy already proved how useful just a few could be for someone like Tenten.

But that was for another time and he returned his full attention to the fight when Naruto used a clone as a step to move above his student.

* * *

"Kage Bunshin Sign 'Cluster Shot'!"

Tenten was caught off-guard and barely had time to move her arms to protect her head as she and the floor around her were showered in a large amount of bullets.

"_Gah!" _Tenten thought as the merciless attack went on. "_Even if I won't die from this, it still hurt like hell!"_

As Naruto landed after the attack, Tenten unconsciously put one knee one the destroyed floor, trying to regain her breath. Her clothes were torn at places and she herself started to feel numb.

Not good at all. And Naruto had the gall to still be breathing normally.

"Guess I have no choice… I wanted to save it for the finals but it's my last chance. " Tenten said, taking two scrolls and placing them at her sides. As soon as this was done, she started forming handseals, going through them as fast as she could.

* * *

Naruto was actually wary now. Despite avoiding injuries, it took concentration to dodge so many weapons. Tenten was accurate and he was thankful she didn't use a clone to throw more at the same time.

It wasn't like he could side-step a whole bunch of them at once after all. Not enough space to fit in meant he would have to jump away.

Another problem was that unlike danmaku, weapons don't simply disappear after they hit something. The floor was now littered with many weapons Naruto had no intention of accidentally stepping on. Not only he had to watch for projectiles, but also where he moved.

And now… Two scrolls and executing handseals for this? This didn't look good. If her throwing speed became faster, he wouldn't be able to keep up. A part of his mind compared the situation to a danmaku battle: An unknown spell card could reverse the whole battle. Except that instead of a spell card, it was a jutsu.

But a spell card could be stopped before it even started…

However, the distance between him and Tenten was too great. Even if he started running now, he wouldn't reach her in time. Besides, there was also the possibility that she had a counter prepared against people who would try to stop her. She did look awfully exposed after all.

So he had to not only be fast, but be fast enough so that Tenten didn't have time to react. As his mind searched for a way, his instincts screamed that he already had something.

But that was something he never really intended to use. At least, not outside Gensokyo. Naruto knew he wasn't the same as before and he trained to use it, but he wanted to avoid relying on it if he could. And yet… He wouldn't be able to beat Tenten right now without it. As much as he didn't like it, losing would be even worse.

"_So… just for a moment then._" Naruto decided. He let go of some of his control on himself and moved. He felt his fingers turning into claws and his senses getting sharper, but he didn't concentrate on that.

Just as Tenten jumped up with both scrolls in hand, she realized Naruto was suddenly just under her. Right after, he jumped up and kicked her in a somersault with enough strength to make her drop one of her scrolls. Not only that, Naruto had put enough strength to send her crashing into the ceiling. Despite the pain, Tenten decided to stick on the ceiling rather than fall down.

But just as she opened her eyes, Naruto pulled out another spell card.

"Kage Bunshin Sign 'Cluster Shot'!"

Some of the shots hit the ceiling, but most hit Tenten directly, unable to defend herself from the assault. As soon as the assault was done, Naruto saw Tenten starting to fall, unmoving. Before she hit the ground, Naruto caught her bridal-style.

"Should have expected for you to hold something back too…" Tenten muttered. That last attack hit her hard and she was unable to move.

"Hey, you were great too! If you want to, we can have a rematch anytime." Naruto said.

Tenten tried to see some sarcasm in his face, considering how Naruto led the whole fight, but he seemed to genuinely have enjoyed it.

"Sure. "Tenten answered, smiling. "You won't win so easily next time."

"Winner: Naruto!"

* * *

"He was holding back." Yukari said.

They hadn't missed the fight, of course. But even if Naruto had won without too much trouble, Yukari was disappointed that Naruto still didn't acknowledge himself after his decision. And because of that refusal, he wasn't fighting with everything he had.

"He still needs time." Yuyuko said. "Whatever you may think, Naruto is still a child."

Yukari didn't answer, choosing to frown instead. She understood what her friend said, yet it didn't do much for her feelings.

Looking at the screen, she saw the reactions from the fight. The team from Sand looked fairly bored, even if Naruto's sudden gain of speed was unexpected. At the very least, the most interesting of them was still looking at Naruto with wide eyes.

He probably recognized what Naruto used, given how familiar he was with it.

Some of the others Leaf kids were still in shock. Despite knowing Naruto wasn't weak, it was another thing to see it. But even with the surprise, they congratulated Naruto for his victory.

The others members of Tenten's team had different reactions. The boy with white eyes said nothing, taking care of his teammate that Naruto had carried up instead. The teacher congratulated Naruto for his fight, but promised that it would be far different the next time. The last one did the same as his teacher, but said he would certainly enjoy a match with him.

Then Yukari's eyes noticed someone in particular. And she couldn't help but smirk.

Hinata looked like a nightmare had just come to life.

* * *

Kurenai carefully eyed her student, having an idea of what she was thinking but unable to offer any support. Only because she didn't know what to say.

And all of this because of that woman... no, that demon. That day, she had arrived only to find her already talking with Hinata. Because she didn't do anything yet, she simply watched from a distance.

And when that horrible laughter started, it was already far too late to realize her mistake...

"_Haha... Ha ha ha... Oh my, how can it be….Ha ha ha! Is it even possible for you to be even more PATHETIC?"_

_She was as dumbstruck as Hinata was by the words and the laughter. How could someone simply question her on a subject so sensible only to laugh and insult her afterwards? But she was a jonin and it did not take long for her to clear her shock, realize the effect this would have on Hinata and run towards her student, intending to stop the laughter._

_However, it was for naught. She wasn't getting nearer and it took only an instant to realize she was under an illusion._

"_Who…?!" Kurenai muttered, seething. There was someone out there helping that demon destroys Hinata's self-worth?! _

_She immediately made a seal and muttered a Kai, only to realize this had no effect. She decided to attempt the same with more chakra before a female voice stopped her._

"_Do not do this. Otherwise, I will be forced to act."_

"_Show yourself!" Kurenai shouted, trying to find the creator of the illusion. The voice seemed to have come from everywhere._

"_As you wish." The voice said again, right next to her._

_Kurenai was surprised, but she quickly turned to confront the genjutsu user. Whoever it was, she intended to identify the person, get out of the illusion, take her student away and try to control the damage that was no doubt already done and go to the Hokage. Under her anger, she was prepared to do all that, no matter who it was._

_She was prepared. But she could do nothing but pale when she saw the figure. A figure possessing nine fox tails._

"_Ky…Kyu-!"_

"_No, I am not."_ _She stated. "I am Ran Yakumo, Shikigami of Lady Yukari Yakumo."_

_This didn't do much to calm Kurenai. Considering the carnage of the Kyuubi, it was somewhat understandable. And this person stated she was a servant? That her master was stronger?!_

_Her musings were cut short as Yukari had stopped laughing. From a distance, Kurenai could see her looking directly into Hinata's eyes with a smile full of malice._

"_You wish to be like Naruto? This coming from someone has weak as you? What a joke!" Yukari said, cruelty dripping from her words. "How can someone like you DARE to think of being like him when you don't even try to do something about it?"_

"_I…I…"_

"_That bitch…!" Kurenai muttered in a snarl, her hands moving. What was she doing? She had to break the illusion and stop this at once!_

_But a hand grabbed her arms before she could form a seal._

"_I told you, do not do this." Ran said. "My mistress asked that none interrupt her. If you use too much chakra, the girl will notice. I will put you unconscious if I need to."_

"_And why should I do as you ask?"_

"_Would you rather be able to try something after lady Yukari is done or do you prefer to be unconscious and only be able to act much later? I won't stop you from listening, but I cannot let you disrupt them."_

_Kurenai almost bit her lip in frustration. As much as she hated it, the correct choice was quite evident._

"_I do know about you, you know?" Yukari continued "Instead of becoming stronger, you lament on how weak you are. You observe Naruto in silence instead of doing something about your own personality. You simply dream while Naruto works to get what he wants. Am I wrong, little girl?"_

_Given how Hinata looked like she was about to break down and cry, it was evident Yukari's words were having an effect on her._

"_Bu… But I-" _

"_But NOTHING!" Yukari interrupted. "You hate being a weight to others and yet you remain the same! Your team failed missions because of you and you don't learn from them!"_

"_I do train!" Hinata shouted, "I want to be stronger! But no matter what I do, I don't change!" _

"_Then the way you train must be useless. Did you really try everything or do you simply give up before finishing?" Yukari replied, smiling coldly again._

_Hinata didn't answer her. It was an unfair question after all, since the border youkai already knew the answer._

"_Last question now…" Yukari said, knowing Hinata would not answer her last question. "If Naruto could see you now, do you know what he would think of you?"_

"_W-What Naruto-kun would thing?" Hinata repeated, unsure of the question._

"_Yes. What do you imagine he would think of you? I promise this is the last question."_

_Hinata bit her lip in hesitation, trying to think of an answer._

_A little away, Kurenai's killing intent was completely out of control as she could do nothing but watch. _

"_That… Why are you stopping me from going to Hinata's side?" She asked, turning to Ran. "Are you telling me you support his?"_

"_It is not my place to decide if my master's actions are right or wrong." Ran said, avoiding the question._

"_He… Naruto-kun wouldn't like me, right?" Hinata answered. A moment passed, Hinata waiting for a reply. When she realized none was coming, she took it as a sign to continue. "Naruto-kun moves forward while I walk in place… He is not mean enough to say things that will hurt but he'll be disappointed anyway, right?"_

"_A surprising answer." Yukari said. "Don't you dream to be with him?"_

"_Even if I do, it wouldn't happen now…"_

"_Right, right… You aren't foolish it seems." The blonde youkai said, nodding at her answer. "However, your answer is still wrong."_

"_H-huh?"_

"_I asked 'if Naruto could see you…'. Didn't you ask yourself if he would see you in the first place?" Yukari explained._

"_Wh-What are saying?" Hinata asked, confused._

"_Naruto, during the his Academy days, was interested in Sakura. These days, do you think he is still interested in her?" _

_Now that Yukari had said it, Hinata did realize that it was true. But she couldn't think of anything of something that happened to make it so._

"_No, he isn't…" Hinata said, still trying to find a reason._

"_That's because his interests changed, obviously. I can assure you he met many girls far stronger and smarter than Sakura him since graduation. Why would he hold Sakura so high then?"_

"_But… Why is being smarter or stronger change his interests?" Hinata asked._

"_Silly girl… Naruto likes girls who are strong of course!" Yukari said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Back in the Academy, wasn't she the top student while he struggled simply to not be last? And now that he meets girls who are stronger, girls who aren't afraid to fight, work and train… How can he even see you if you yourself stop him from noticing you?"_

_Hinata would have been hit with a sledgehammer, you wouldn't have noticed the difference. Her mind tried to accept what she was just told. As much as she tried to deny it, Yukari had very good points. _

_Why didn't she try speaking to Naruto before? Why not help him when he needed it? When he was alone? When she knew how lonely he was?_

_The only answer to these was fear. The fear that Naruto would not accept her. That he would label her 'weak'. That the person she admired so much would view her the same as her family._

"_Why?" Hinata muttered. The tone was uncharacteristically low, even for her._

"_Why what?" Yukari asked back._

"_Why did you come here to tell me all this?" _

_Kurenai wondered the same. Why come out of her way for this? What did Hinata do so that there was a need to act and crush her dreams and hopes into dust?_

"_I was really tired of seeing you around. Don't you have anything else to do instead of stalking people?" Yukari answered. In an amused voice. As if it was obvious. As if no other reason was needed._

_Kurenai almost couldn't believe what followed next. In a sudden movement, Hinata lunged forward, her palm aiming for the heart of Yukari. Just as it was about to strike, two gaps opened in the air opened. One swallowed the threat, the hand disappearing into the gap. Only to appear to strike Hinata's own stomach, as the second gap opened just in front of it._

_The counter was unexpected and Hinata took her own attack full force. She was pushed back but still managed to stay up, enduring the blow. _

_When she lifted her head again, the metallic and very sharp tip of Yukari's parasol was pointed at her neck._

"_So weak… So, so weak. An attack that was supposed to contain your anger couldn't even make someone fall. Did you rush it or did you just stop thinking? Either way, I start to wonder why I even bothered to counter it."_

_Yukari moved her parasol away and started to walk away. Hinata did not try to attack again, simply watching her walks away. _

"_Ah, I almost forgot…" Yukari said, stopping for a moment. "I should probably answer your attack before I left."_

_Before Hinata could understand what she said, another gap appeared in front of her. A grave marker appeared out of it, slamming Hinata hard in the stomach and sending her to the ground. She didn't get up, trying to regain her breath._

_Yukari walked away, leaving Hinata on the ground. Reaching the immobile form of Kurenai, she stopped to address her audience._

"_I am done with her. Try to have her become stronger at the very least…"_

"_You soulless bastard…" Kurenai muttered, seething. "You think you can just get away with this? How could you say all of this to her and use Naruto against her?"_

"_Because I do not like her. Didn't you hear me just before?" Yukari answered, surprising Kurenai. Even if her consciousness was trapped in an illusion, it seemed that the Border Youkai could still see and address her."How could I even start liking someone with a will so weak? As for getting away with this… I must admit I am curious to know how exactly you will try to make me pay. You are not entertaining the hope of actually defeating me, are you?"_

"_Beating you? Why would I need to when-"_

"_Because I can't let this reach Naruto's ears, you know? If you were to try talking about this… An unfortunate accident would have to happen."_

_Yukari didn't even try to hide her smirk while Kurenai was shocked into silence by the threat._

"_You… To go this far just to crush her spirit with lies…_

"_Lies?" Yukari interrupted. "You think what I said isn't true?_

_Then tell me: What I said to that girl, where was I wrong?"_

It took days before Hinata's self-confidence returned to what it was before. But even the low amount she had could shatter at any moment. And for Hinata to see words from someone else becoming facts was shaking the core of Hinata's being.

Kurenai put a hand on Hinata's shoulder, causing the young girl to stop trembling and look up to her teacher.

"Calm down. Do you really think everything she said is the truth?" Kurenai asked her student.

Hinata didn't say anything, but she calmed down a little, to Kurenai's relief.

"Next match: Gaara versus Yoroi." Hayate announced.

Gaara calmly walked down the stairs to the arena while the other man raised an eyebrow at the unexpected match. Glancing at the person behind the Sound team, he only received a smirk back. Shrugging, Yoroi also walked down the stairs.

If his master Orochimaru found this so amusing, he might as well see if his bloodline worked against the monster.

"Begin!"

Wordlessly, Gaara sent a stream of sand coming from his gourd towards the leaf ninja. The lack of words probably indicated that he didn't care one bit for his opponent and just wanted this over with. Yoroi examined the sand for a second before extending an arm and activating his technique.

As the sand passed near his hand, it fell down on the floor and stopped moving. As the attack was linear and rushed, Yoroi had no trouble stopping it.

Gaara tilted his head on his left, the only sign of curiosity he displayed over what just happened.

"This is a chakra absorption technique." Yoroi explained. "Since there is chakra in your sand to move, I simply need to take it to remove your influence from it. This way, your attacks won't work against me."

Gaara didn't look troubled. Instead, more sand came out of his gourd and moved it in a circle around the ninja.

"What if I attack you from all sides then?" Gaara asked.

Yoroi looked around. Indeed, if all of it rushed him at once, he would be done for. So there was one thing left to do now.

"Examiner, I give up." Yoroi announced. He hadn't expected to win in the first place. In fact, he was supposed to lose anyway. There was no need to suffer injuries or lose his life in a useless fight.

Gaara didn't look too pleased with the surrender, but a sharp word from his teacher had him move back the sand in his gourd and walking back up. Yoroi simply left the arena, having no reason to remain.

"Next match: Temari against Shikamaru!" Hayate announced.

Both of them walked to the center of the arena, though Shikamaru was like someone doing something against their will.

"How troublesome… Why did I have to get a girl to fight against?" He muttered, clearly not enjoying his bad luck.

Such a comment had a predictable and immediate effect on Temari.

"Are you looking down on me, you chauvinist?!" She asked in anger.

"Of course not." Shikamaru answered. "It'll be a pain especially you look like someone who worked hard so that people wouldn't look down on you."

Anger left place for shock as Temari did not expect that kind of reply. When she got over it, she quietly laughed to herself before smirking.

"Look like not everyone in your group is blind after all." She said. "Why don't you just surrender if it's too much for you?"

Shikamaru didn't answer. Instead, he closed his eyes to think about it.

"You know, that doesn't sound too b-"

"Shikamaru, what the hell?!" Ino screamed "If you give up now, I'll make your life hell, you hear me!"

"…So much for that plan." Shikamaru muttered. _"Troublesome woman…" _

"Begin!" Hayate said, starting the fight.

The two ninjas did nothing at first, each waiting for the other to do something.

"Aren't you going to attack?" Shikamaru asked. "I thought guys were supposed to let the girl go first."

"You wish." Temari replied.

"Fine then." Shikamaru said, making the handseals of his family technique.

His shadow moved forward, aiming directly for Temari. The Sand shinobi reacted and moved to her right to avoid the shadow. Right after, she took the fan from her back and swung it, aiming for Shikamaru.

The gust of wind provoked by the fan lifted Shikamaru from the ground and sent him slamming into the wall behind him. He grunted in pain from the impact, but he was back on his feet right after.

"I don't know what your shadow can do, but there's no way I'm letting it touch me." Temari declared. Her fan was partially open, showing one purple circle.

"Troublesome…" Shikamaru commented. "Why isn't your fan completely open?"

"I'll let you guess why. But know that once the three stars appear on it, the match will be over."

Shikamaru didn't answer the taunt. Instead, he sent his shadow forward again. And again, he aimed directly for Temari in a straight line.

In a repetition of what just happened, Temari once again avoided it and sent another, but much stronger gust of wind, slamming Shikamaru harder than before on the wall. The fan displayed two stars this time, but Temari wasn't looking confident.

"_There's something wrong._" Temari thought. "_There's no reason for him to repeat the same attack the same way if the first time failed."_

She reviewed what happened so far while Shikamaru took his time getting back up. She simply dodged a straight attack two times. If he did the same thing a third time, she would no doubt do the thing again.

"_He wants to surprise me with something new while I intend to finish him. Since he doesn't look like someone to attack himself, the surprise is probably in his shadow."_ Temari concluded.

Prepared, she readied herself for the next attack. As predicted, Shikamaru attacked the same way again. She dodged again, but she started running to put more distance between her and the shadow.

A tendril had emerged from the side of the attack and moved to grab Temari, but she made sure to run fast enough to not let it get close enough. It pursued at a fast speed, becoming the head of the attack while doing so, but Temari didn't let herself get caught.

"I knew it… A surprise attack while I swing my fan? But I don't need to stop moving to attack!" She declared, preparing herself to swing her fan again for the final blow.

But just as she was ready to swing her weapon, she stopped.

"W…What?! Why can't I…"

"Who said I needed to grab you directly to win?" Shikamaru said. As he spoke, he moved his arms as if he discarded something from his arms. Temari found herself forced to repeat his actions and threw her fan away.

"I just needed to grab a shadow connected to you." Shikamaru explained. He looked at the fan, noticing it was now fully open. "Three stars, the match is over. Thanks for carrying a weapon so big."

"_He… He waited until my weapon was completely open and made the biggest shadow possible!" _Temari thought, understanding his plan minus one last part. "But I was running faster than your attack! Why did it catch up now, even with my fan?"

"It wasn't moving at full speed. You simply assumed it was." The Leaf genin said, now walking toward his opponent and forcing his opponent to do the same. Once she was in front of him, he stopped.

"Even if we move the same, there are still differences." Shikamaru said. "I have a weapon pouch on my leg. You don't."

"So you can just take something out and point it at my neck…" Temari finished for him.

"Exactly."

"There's no need for that." Hayate said, moving between the two combatants. "It's pretty clear now that the match is decided. No objection?"

"…None." Temari muttered, unable to think of any way to escape the technique.

"Winner: Shikamaru Nara!"

* * *

"Not bad." Yukari commented, still watching the fights with Yuyuko and Youmu.

"I agree." Yuyuko commented. "He had her completely fooled."

"Let's hope the next match will be as entertaining." Yukari said, as the examiner was ready to announce who would fight next.

"Sakura versus Ino!"

This fight was not just a simple fight for the two of them. It was a fight to prove their worth. A fight each of them wanted to show to the other how much they had grown. A struggle that started in the past, left boiling and was about to be done right here, right now. If anyone could measure willpower at that moment, they would be surprised by how much Sakura and Ino wanted victory. Truly a titanic-sized emotional match!

But that was for those who knew the two girls. For everyone else, it was just a long match.

"Yuyuko-sama, Miss Yukari… The match ended in a draw, so you can wake up now." Youmu meekly said, dismayed at the sight of the two older youkais asleep on the table.

On the screen, the next genin to fight were already decided.

"Hinata versus Neji!"

* * *

Author's notes: I am one of the worst updater ever. This fic reminds me why exactly I wanted to stick to one-shots. Well, after backing out and then coming back, there's no other choice for me but to finish this.

The chapter is a little smaller than usual. It seemed like a good point to stop and the wait as been long enough anyway. The next one will be longer. And I can at least promise it won't take half a year again. Truly, I am too easily distracted.

Now I ask for the Hinata fans to please not murder me. Yukari's goal was to crush her self-esteem so that she'll never approach Naruto and you can't say Hinata was strong before this point.

As usual, hope you enjoyed the read, hope you'll leave a review and notify me of any mistake by PM.


	12. Message

Well, if you've seen the summary and bothered reading this, I'll try to make it work your time. Now I'll get to the point and explain my decision.

Writing for me is purely for fun. I enjoy reading far more than writing, sure, but sometimes I get the bug to develop an idea I got. This is how this story got started.

As years advanced, my updating speed decreased. I planned for more, learned more, got distracted by more stuff to read. School is also important, since I simply can't afford to fail. Summer? Work. 12 weeks. And distracted by new series on my free time too. Still tried to add words at time to the next update.

But when I took time to write, opened the page for my next chapter and I couldn't write anything, despite knowing what I wanted to do, that's when I saw there was something seriously wrong going on.

The reasons? First, I think the primary cause is my complete and total loss of interest in Naruto. Second? I reread my first chapters and wondered what the hell I was thinking back then. Especially as I didn't know as much about Touhou as I did now. Third, when thinking of updating seems like a chore instead of fun, then, like I said before, something is wrong.

Fourth is important too. I got more ideas for future fics. But I didn't really want to start them until I finished this first. But I was still stuck and uninspired. So I came to the decision that either I sit and type, or end this now. I tried writing and I was still stuck. So, enough is enough. I said I would finish this but looking back, it was nothing more than an arrogant promise when I thought myself better than those who gave up. But, as I learned, I really should have punched myself for thinking that.

So I'm finally pulling the plug on this, for those who wanted to know what came next, don't worry: the least I can do is write what I had planned for the rest of this.

Sorry about those who hoped for me to finish this, but beating a dead horse here will just produce an uglier corpse.

Here's the end of the note. Rest of this is what I had planned.

* * *

First, Naruto wouldn't have spoken for Hinata. With all the lessons he got on control, he feared that he would lose control on himself. When the fight (or more like torture) ended, the rail Naruto gripped would have been distorted and almost about to snap. Mood would have been down, Gai would have been angry.

Last match: Lee versus Dosu. No longer in a good mood, Lee isn't taking Dosu's taunts, remove his weights and show that he can indeed punch him out faster than he can use his arm to mess him up.

Finals? First match would have been Kiba versus Neji. Then Naruto versus Lee. Second part is Shikamaru versus Shino and Sasuke versus Gaara and Kankuro getting a pass for first round. Kiba is getting his shot first but if he loses, then Lee and Naruto decide that their match will decide who get to finally teach a lesson to Neji.

And yes, Lee versus Naruto. Isn't everyone tired by now to mostly see Naruto versus Neji again and again?

Training month after that. Kakashi can make time for both Sasuke and Naruto. However, he can't train both at the same time and while he won't dismiss Naruto if he ask for training, it's a fact that Naruto has many to turn to for that (and Sasuke has pretty much no one else). And even Naruto can agree that Sasuke will die if he's not ready to face Gaara. But because of a party for Naruto's victory last night, Yukari is now deeply asleep and won't wake up for a while. Naruto would then go see Youmu for training, as she can make him used to fight someone really fast.

Meanwhile, Remilia eventually learns what is going on and send Meiling, as she already know him, to train Naruto's opponent so that the fight will be 'fair'.

Also during that month, Naruto confronts Neji and ask why the hell he hurt his cousin so much. Neji then say that someone clearly favoured by Fate would never be able to understand, which pisses Naruto further (since he knows Remilia's power, he know Fate is anything but unchanging). Neji leaves after saying he expect him to win against Lee without much trouble.

Now the finals. Sasuke discover to his horror that there's really something that always make Kakashi late. Yukari, Ran and Chen are watching from a place none can see. Yuyuko and Youmu have a spot in the stands next to the other genin watching (when asked why here, as she is clearly no ordinary woman, Yuyuko answer that she simply don't want to deal with stuffy nobles. When making a comment that she maybe should have brought a snack, Chouji offers a bag of chips. To Ino and Sakura's complete shock, Yuyuko is happy and kiss him on the cheek.

As for the fights, it should not be surprising that I planned for Neji to win against Kiba. Then comes Lee against Naruto. Blow are exchanged, but Naruto has trouble keeping up with Lee. Until Lee ask why Naruto is holding back, as Naruto moved much faster against Tenten. Wouldn't they give their all here to see who would be the best to face Neji? Naruto, who still preferred to fight using only his human side, understand and starts fighting with the strength of a half-youkai. Gets back the advantage and Lee decide to use the move he learned during his training, a combination of Reverse Lotus and Mountain Breaker. But Naruto manage to painfully gets back on his feet and Lee see that Naruto is stronger than him, taking even his strongest attack. He falls unconscious and Naruto is declared the winner.

Neji, observing this, ponder a bit about his ways. There is no denying that very few could have taken Lee's last attack like Naruto did.

Then Shikamaru and Shino. I admit, I still am undecided who would win between the two. What would happen if Shikamaru took the insects's shadows anyway?

Finally, Gaara and Sasuke where crap happens. As the genjutsu is cast, Yuyuko is perfectly alright as something designed to affect the senses of the livings is useless against the deads like her. However, she does complain that Youmu need more training against subtle attacks, as only her ghost-half is awake.

Anyway, same group is sent to get Sasuke back before he gets to Gaara (what was that guy thinking sending Sasuke alone anyway?). Yuyuko eventually have someone wakes up Youmu and send her after them too, saying they'll need more strength if the confrontation is inevitable. On her way, she cuts down those trying to intercept the group.

Meanwhile, the Third is fighting and Yukari is perfectly happy to simply watch. Until Orochimaru make the mistake of summoning dead souls to fight for him. And that's a big no-no for Yukari, considering who her best friend is. She enters the battle and while keep the previous two kages busy while the Third deal with his student.

Naruto's group finally reach Sasuke and Gaara. With Naruto and Youmu, Gaara is pushed back and transform to overwhelm everyone. At the height he is, hitting him with danmaku just isn't possible. Youmu forms a plan: she will cut the sand tanuki's arm and Naruto will climb up as fast as possible while it's distracted and doesn't realize someone is on him (because then said person would be engulfed and very painfully crushed). It's close, but the plan succeed.

Meanwhile, Yukari is tired. The two kages earned their title for a reason and while she has not much trouble countering them, she simply can't use bigger attacks, as it would be hard to explain to Naruto why she killed his grandfather figure. Finally, she murders one of the Sound Four holding the barrier to let the ANBUs him and Orochimaru is forced to retreat before he is overwhelmed. The two undeads are quickly dispatched.

Arc ends on a meeting between the Third and Naruto. While he can't promote Naruto, as field commanders need to be more than keep fighting until opponent is down (being loud and showy didn't help either since stealth is also important at times), he reveals to Naruto who is parents were. Before, he couldn't tell it since Naruto was young and not great at keeping secrets. Now however, he knows Naruto can defend himself in the case this went out and someone tried to get revenge on his father. He also writes him a scroll about one of his father's techniques, the Rasengan, with the promise to burn it after he learned it.

Itachi and Kisame still come, but I am still unsure how it would go. Naruto is safe in Gensokyo while this happens.

Time passes and next arc would have been a Gensokyo arc, Yukari spending time with Naruto. There would have been a fight between Tenshi and Naruto (Tenshi wants to fight Yukari, Yukari doesn't and tells her she'll fight if she defeats Naruto first. Naruto manage to pull a win, using the Rasengan he made into a spellcard. Then both have a small trip on the Outside, with Yukari showing Naruto a bit of her world and explaining the differences between the three worlds he know of.

Final arc is the rescue arc. As Yukari doesn't see the situation changing, she decides to push Sasuke a bit more towards defecting. The rescue team is set up after Sasuke leaves, but Shikamaru was unable to find Naruto, as he doesn't know about the gap inside the place leading to the Yakumos.

Eventually, Naruto arrives and learn what happened. He immediately starts running after them. Not sure how fights would have happened in the meanwhile, but it ends with Naruto finally catching up to Sasuke, where he see his friend left ton his own will. Naruto then propose the stakes. If Naruto wins, he's bringing Sasuke back to Konoha. If Sasuke wins, then Naruto will let him go. As fight goes, both learns how each wanted to be like the other. Naruto wanted to be great at learning and admired like Sasuke was (except the jerk part). Sasuke wanted to be able to have a family like Naruto gained. He's also jealous of the techniques Naruto gained. Naruto reply that if he wanted to learn something new so much, why didn't he simply ask? It's not like he can't understand how pissed Sasuke is at Itachi for murdering his family. Not completely, but he can see how he would have reacted too. End in a draw as when both are unable to continue. After making Sasuke admits it, Naruto lose consciousness. Sasuke is annoyed, but isn't sure what to do now since Naruto can't exactly do anything to stop him. Eventually, he's annoyed and decides to bring him back himself: it's not Naruto bringing him back but Sasuke deciding this on his own.

And the last part starts as Naruto is visited by Hinata. While trying to stay hidden, Naruto sense her and invite her inside his hospital room. After a while, she asks why he's so nice to her…

There was a critical weak point in Yukari's argument back then: Naruto remembers how hard his life was back before. He knew how weak he was and how many would have given up. How the hell would he even mock someone in trouble like Hinata when the same could have happened to him if he just had a little less willpower?

What follow is Naruto being really pissed off at Yukari. Yukari, seeing what's going to happen, transport both her and Naruto at a wasteland. When Naruto ask for answers, Yukari gives them: She never really cared about Konoha and would rather prefer to have Naruto stay in Gensokyo full time. Then Yukari state that if he doesn't like it, they can fight her without trouble.

Naruto to so, going all out and using everything he learned. But after a while, Yukari state that enough is enough and counterattack. It doesn't take long before the point is made that Naruto has no chance to defeat her. She then state that she'll simply be on her way and drop him and Konoha and won't have to see her again.

But Naruto manage to get up and hugs her from behind, surprising Yukari. He says that while he hates what Yukari did, she is still someone important to him as with others he met because of her. That she could have forced him to stay in Gensokyo or influenced him much more, maybe even going back in time by playing with boundaries of past and present but didn't do so. But she'll have to take the bad with the good: Naruto works for Konoha and it will stay so until he feels it's time to go. And it's not like he has nothing to complain about Yukari either.

Of course, Naruto ask her to apologize to Hinata. Yukari doesn't want to and pouts.

Epilogue, happening weeks later, was to be with Sasuke going to the Underground at Naruto's request. He heard from Yukari that something strange was happening but she said he wasn't allowed to go. She has plan to bug Reimu into going alter, but Naruto go gets Sasuke, who now also know danmaku, and send him with something so he can help like Yukari plans (learned while she was testing it with him) to do with Reimu. Sasuke is however defeated and sent back by Yuugi (who enjoyed the fight and invites him to come back again) and despite being annoyed by his loss (and Naruto saying that he sucks), know he still has a long way to go.

Why end this here? Because I don't want to get into the rest of Naruto. In theory, Yuakri can nuke the whole Akatsuki group anyway.


End file.
